DCIS Connect Newsletter (Sept. 26-Oct. 2)

Weekly Newsletter for Parents, Staff and Students September 26-October 2, 2019 (Leer en Español usar el traductor de Google aquí.) The DCIS Gay-Straight Alliance Presents 2019 Movie Night The Way He Looks What? Come catch a free movie with the DCIS GSA to celebrate diversity, meet new people and spend time with friends. Enjoy snacks ranging from $1-$3 to help us raise funds for cultural events and field trips for our club. Where? DCIS Auditorium When? Friday, Sept. 27, 5:15 pm Who? Everyone! Why? Help us raise funds and have a fun night with friends! Other Details: If you plan to stay after school to see the film, you are not permitted (per DCIS rules) to be in the building past 3:20, unless in an otherwise supervised activity. Please make plans to hang out somewhere outside of school until movie time.  HAPPENING THIS WEEK ... DCIS Gay-Straight Alliance Movie Night The Way He Looks: Friday, Sept. 27, 5:15 pm, DCIS Auditorium Middle School Boys Soccer: Monday, Sept. 30, 4 pm, KCAA, 2250 S. Quitman St., Denver Middle School Cross-Country: League Meet, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 3:45 pm, Bear Valley Park Spirit Week: Monday–Friday, Sept. 30-Oct. 4 MARK YOUR CALENDAR ... PTSA Meeting: Thursday, Oct.3, 6-7:30 pm, Community Room DCIS Foundation Scholarship Application Window: Oct. 3–14 Homecoming Dance: Saturday, Oct.5, 7–10 pm PSAT/SAT Practice: Monday, Oct. 7, 8 am Guatemala Trip Informational Meeting: Tuesday, Oct. 8, 6 pm, Community Room Picture Day: Wednesday, Oct. 9, all day Drama Club Fundraiser: Monday, Oct. 14, 4–8 pm, Pizzeria Locale, 6th and Broadway DCIS Foundation Scholarship Application DUE: Monday, Oct. 14 Middle School Volleyball: Monday, Oct. 14, 4 pm, at DCIS FREE COLLEGE APPLICATION DAY: Tuesday, Oct. 15; learn more here Family–Teacher Conferences: Wednesday-Thursday, Oct. 16-17, 3:15–7:15 pm NO SCHOOL (Non-Student Contact Days): Friday, Oct. 18; Monday–Tuesday, Oct. 21–22 CSC Meeting: Thursday, Oct. 24, 4:30-6 pm, DCIS Community Room Middle School Volleyball: Friday, Oct. 25, 4 pm, KCAA, 2250 S. Quitman St., Denver Middle School Dance and Haunted House: Friday, Oct. 25, 6–8:30 pm, DCIS Cafeteria Middle School Volleyball: Tuesday, Oct. 29, 4 pm, vs. BVI, at DCIS Fall Play — Almost, Maine: Thursday–Saturday, Nov. 14–16, 6 pm Click here to access the schedule for all West High School sports. FROM THE PRINCIPAL ...   Greetings DCIS Community,  I wanted to share what a pleasure I had last week participating on a handful of 11th grade Passage committees. If you are not familiar with Passages, it is a research class taken during junior year. Students write an original 15-page research paper on a topic of their choosing. In other words, they are investigating the world, but with a deep focus on something they are interested in. Some presentations I overheard included Women of Color in Fashion, Video Game Evolution, Big Pharma's Role in the Opioid Crisis and How to Create a Perfect Soccer Player. Students were passionate, professional and ready to receive feedback from their committees about how to make their papers better. Students will present to their fellow students on Passages Day in January and I just can't wait. What a great experience that our DCIS students will never forget!   Cheers, Dr. Gamba LAST CHANCE TO GET DISCOUNTED YEARBOOKS! Preorder your yearbook through TreeRing. Order before Monday, Sept. 30, to get a $6 discount. The regular price is $40. Scholarship Information and Deadlines for Fall 2019 This year the DCIS Foundation is putting the Scholarship orientation and applications online. Moving the process online will allow for more student flexibility, better school travel coordinator guidance (Sally Bishop), and the ability for students to share information with their parent(s) or guardian(s) more easily. The applications will be ready by Friday, Oct. 4, and the submission period is open Oct. 4–14. Visit the Foundation website for more information. RAISE YOUR HAND...  PTSA MEETING Please join us for a PTSA meeting on Thursday, Oct. 3, in the Community Room from 6-7:30 pm. Everyone welcome, but paid-up PTSA members will get to vote on the 2019-20 budget. Please email us to join the DCIS PTSA; the membership fee is $10 per person (students also pay $10). You can pay by check or via PayPal. Email the PTSA for payment details.    SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE HOURS FOR STUDENTS Does your student need school or community service hours? Check out a list of potential opportunities or send an email to have the SignUpGenius link (above) emailed to you via automatic reply.   COLLABORATIVE SCHOOL COMMITTEE Our next CSC meeting will be held on Thursday, Oct. 24, 4:30-6 pm, in the Community Room at DCIS. All members of the community are welcome to sit in on these meetings. Want to know more about the role of the CSC? Check out our webpage. Minutes from the September meeting can be found here. CALLING ALL PARTY PLANNERS DCIS Foundation is looking for creative and fun team members who want to help DCIS students become confident global citizens. If you are interested, please reach out to Anne Usman, DCISF Events Chairwoman. NEED A HAND ...  DISCOUNTED RTD FARES RTD's new income-based fare discount program offers 40% off transit for qualifying adults between the ages of 20 and 64 (other discounts are offered for those outside this age range). Click here to read more about this program. As always, students at DCIS can receive free RTD passes if they reside more than 2.5 miles from the school. HELP WITH ENERGY BILLS If you or someone you know needs assistance paying their energy bill, Energy Outreach Colorado and DPS Family and Community Engagement may be able to help. Click here for more information.   COUNSELORS' CORNER...  COUNSELORS Tami Handley - 720-423-9006 Ted Brugman - 720-423-9094 SENIORS Please continue to set up appointments with Ms. Handley and Mr. Brugman for your Senior Meetings. These need to be completed before Tuesday, Nov. 1.   FAFSA Application opens Tuesday, Oct. 1.   Boettcher Scholarship is open now.   Daniels Fund Scholarship opens Tuesday, Oct. 1.   Upcoming National SAT date: Saturday, Nov. 2 Registration Deadline is Thursday, Oct. 3.   Upcoming National ACT date: Saturday, Oct. 26 Registration Deadline is TOMORROW, Friday, Sept. 27   Applying for scholarships just got a lot easier! We know how important scholarships can be to your child's education but how hard it can be for students to keep track of everything. So, we're excited to announce that your students can now sign up for Going Merry to find and apply for scholarships, absolutely free! Going Merry has thousands of scholarships, including national, regional and even local scholarships. Students can sign up here. Once signed up, they fill out a profile and start getting matched to scholarships that fit their background, academics, interests, etc. The best part is they complete the entire application from within the site. It's that simple. If you want to know more, you can watch a short video on how Going Merry works. Please encourage your child to join Going Merry ASAP to ensure they get matched with as many scholarships as possible.   CSU COLLEGE VISIT Mr. Brugman and a group of our senior students went on a field trip last Wednesday to Colorado State University. Students were given a tour of campus and met with admission reps to discover what CSU has to offer. FREE COLLEGE APPLICATION DAY For the second year in a row, the Colorado Department of Higher Education has teamed up with colleges and universities all across Colorado to waive college application fees for all Colorado students on Tuesday, Oct. 15. That means if you submit your application between 12:01 am and 11:59 pm that day, you can apply for free to any public Colorado institution and many private institutions.   TRAVEL CENTER NEWS...  GUATEMALA TRIP Information meeting coming up soon, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 6 pm! Please join Kristen Miller and Luke Mueller from Walking Tree Travel in the Community Room to learn about the upcoming middle school trip to Guatemala. Students will be working on a service project, hiking a volcano, learning about Mayan traditions, swimming and kayaking, zip-lining through the jungle, and improving or learning Spanish. Program tuition is $2,290. HELP WITH ITALIAN EXCHANGE FUNDRAISER Students traveling to Italy next spring are looking for a NO-COST venue for our big fundraiser for the Italian Exchange. Last time we held it in the common house for a co-housing community that had a kitchen, a patio, was big enough for about 80 people, but we no longer know anyone who lives there. Does anyone know of such a venue they might be able to suggest to us and put us in touch with the person or people responsible for this venue? Grazie! DCIS FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP Application window coming up! Need funds for educational travel? The DCIS Foundation will open its first online application on Thursday, Oct. 3. The last day to complete an online application is Monday, Oct. 14, at midnight (NO EXCEPTIONS). Ms. Bishop will host help sessions during both middle school and high school lunches on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 7 and 8, for students who might need assistance filling out the application. Stay tuned for details about how to access this application.  ARTS AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION ... PHYSICAL EDUCATION This week we will continue to work on fitness components by participating in various fitness activities (weight room, core, cardio, etc.) and begin the North American Games unit. Students will also be taking a Wellness Center Survey, led by a senior service project. DRAMA Middle school Drama classes had awesome air guitar and lip sync performances, and this week they are continuing to study pantomime. We will be working with masks and learning about theatre history and scene work within the next few weeks.   Film Production classes are producing seven shot films in which they are studying cinematography and shot types and creating short stories with seven different shots.    The high school special ed class is creating a superhero play! Stay tuned for more details. VISUAL ARTS In Visual Arts this week,  MS students will continue to explore new media while experimenting with the principle of repetition. 8th graders will continue work on their theme-based alphabet books, and high schoolers will make some decisions about their multimedia projects. Meanwhile, the Art Club has started up, and President Sophia Tribelhorn is collecting project ideas from art students and non-art students alike of all ages. Arts Inquiry students Sophia and Hanae Leieritz (grade 12) are getting ready to do mini-internships with artists and are coordinating student docents for the Cherry Arts Mobile Art Gallery coming to DCIS! More to come about that in October. CONNECT ... DCIS Website DCIS Facebook Page DCIS Parents Group (closed, non-school-sanctioned) on Facebook DCIS Drama Club Facebook  DCIS Travel Center Facebook DCIS Foundation Facebook   DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL. Please send questions or comments to dcis.connect@gmail.com.  Every Thursday while school is in session, you'll receive this DCIS Connect newsletter in your email inbox to keep you up to date on all the events and happenings at our school. It's also available on the DCIS Connect app, which you can download at the Apple Store or Google Play. If you don't wish to receive the newsletter, click the Unsubscribe link below. If you're receiving multiple copies of the newsletter, please email dcis.connect@gmail.com to report the problem; be sure to indicate your first and last name and preferred email address so we can update our records. Newsletter submissions are due by noon on the Tuesday preceding the issue date. Email submissions to dcis.connect@gmail.com.  Copyright © 2019 DCIS Connect Newsletter, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email newsletter because you are a member of the DCIS community. 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