Weekly Parent Newsletter

Week of January 6, 2025

Happy New Year! We hope you enjoyed a blessed holiday season, and we’re excited to get back to school on Tuesday. For our first week back, we’ve got a unique schedule, so please read on for everything you need to know:

WINTER JAM

Winter Jam is this weekend, January 10-12. Students who have signed up need to arrive at school on Friday by 11:30am to pack the buses and we will be leaving no later than 12:00. More info and reminders will be sent out this week from Mr. Sons.

ELEARNING ON FRIDAY

Friday, January 10 will be an eLearning Day due to half of the school leaving for Winter Jam on this day. Teachers will post directions on Schoology and email students and families by 4:30pm on Thursday, January 9.

Expectations:

• eLearning Days are considered full school days. For students to be counted present for eLearning days, students must:

  • Complete all directions and expectations for their classes by 3:30pm.

  • Follow all of the requirements posted. Blank assignments or incomplete assignments will not be accepted for credit or for attendance.

• If a student does not complete their work by 3:30pm, the student will be marked absent. This will count toward the student’s unexcused absences.

• There will be no synchronous learning, i.e. Zoom or Google Meets

If your family experiences any issues during eLearning days that would prevent your student from accessing Schoology or their email, please email Mrs. Bootsma (cbootsma@weareuca.org) and Ms. Pointer (mpointer@weareuca.org).

ACT-SO ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM

The NAACP’s Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) is a 11 month long student enrichment program led by volunteer mentors that are business leaders across many fields. The program is aimed to inspire and encourage high academic and cultural achievement among high school students. ACT-SO includes 33 competitions in STEM, Humanities, Business, and Performing, Visual and Culinary Arts where the students compete for awards and prizes. 

The students will meet every 2nd and 4th Saturday, unless otherwise communicated by the coordinators. The next meetings will take place on January 11 and 25 from 10 AM-1 PM at Bessie Coleman Library 731 E 63rd Street, Chicago, IL.

Click here for the student application. If you are interested please submit the application to schiactso@gmail.com. Click the following link to learn more about what ACT-SO has to offer: www.actsochicagosouthside.org

LOOKING AHEAD

• The UCA Homecoming Basketball game is on Friday, January 24.

• Upcoming days that we won’t have school:

  • Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which is Monday, January 20.

  • Friday, February 14, for Faculty Institute Day

  • Presidents’ Day, which is Monday, February 17.