White Station High School
The
Whistler
Fall, 2013
The PIE Presidents’ Corner
Happy fall! PIE is having an eventful year so far. What’s PIE, you say? We are Partners In Education, the parent organization for the school. We provide support for the administration, faculty, students, and parents here at White Station. Some of the projects that we are involved in are Freshman Orientation; Teacher Appreciation lunches and activities; the Senior Picnic; the 5K Fall Festival; improvements to school grounds and facilities; funding for educational resources; volunteer hosts for college recruiting visits; and Project Graduation, our end-of-the-year Senior lock-in.
Our biggest effort is parent communication and engagement. Please visit wshspie.org for tons of info about White Station and PIE. We sponsor The Whistler, this newsletter, which comes home with the first three report cards, and is available on our website. We have a PIE email list, through which we distribute information about PIE events, as well as important information from the school administration. We encourage you to sign up if you have not already done so. Just send your email address to email@wshspie.org and we’ll get you added. We also have bi-monthly PIE meetings.
All of the parents and guardians of students at White Station are considered members of PIE. We’re a team that’s here to help each other, our students, and our school. You are welcome to attend and enjoy all of our events and meetings. Of course, we do need funding for our many projects. So we encourage you to become “supporting” members. The Support Form can be found on our web site. We greatly appreciate any amount, at any time.
If you have any questions, we can be contacted through our web site. Our next event will be a Grounds Clean Up and Planting Day October 19. The next PIE meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 12, at 7:00 pm in the library, and will be held in conjunction with the Athletic Booster Club meeting. Hope to see you there!
Debbie Schaffer and Amy Mulroy Co-Presidents of PIE
Important web addresses for keeping up with WSHS events
If you go to wshspie.org, you will be able to find the following links:
WSHS official website: www.mcsk12.net/schools/whitestation.hs/site/index.shtml
WSHS official calendar (updated daily): www.calendarwiz.com/wshs138
WSHS Facebook: www.facebook.com/whitestationhighschool
WSHS Twitter: www.twitter.com/spartanswshs
Project Graduation: www.wshsprojectgraduation.org
Project Graduation Facebook: www.facebook.com/wshsprojectgraduation
Of further interest
Ms. Sutton’s blog: suttonp.edublogs.org/
twitter.com/WSShield
twitter.com/WSHSScroll and www.whitestationscroll.net
twitter.com/WSHSSenior
October Events
Friday, October 18 — Senior Picnic
Saturday, October 19 — PSAT
Mon., Tues., Wed., Oct. 21, 22, 23 — Crow and Weasel production
Saturday, October 26 — ACT
Wednesday, October 30 — Senior Parent Financial Meeting, 6:00 in the Auditorium
Thursday, October 31 — Senior Panoramic Picture
Fall Cleanup and Grounds Day
PIE is planning a campus clean-up/planting day on October 19. We will clean up garbage, plant donated flowers and rake the grassy areas. Please join us to show pride in a clean, beautiful campus. If you have a rake or shovel, and gardening gloves, please bring them along and join us for a service project for the whole family! Go to the PIE website, wshspie.org for the time of this event.
November Events
Thursday, November 7 — PLAN (all 10th graders during school) www.act.org/products/ k-12-act-plan/ “ACT PLAN serves as the midpoint measure of academic progress in ACT’s College and Career Readiness System.”
Monday, November 11 — Veteran’s Day — No school
Saturday, November 9 — All-West Orchestra Auditions
Monday, November 18 — ASVAB (Jr. & Sr., a vocational test). Sign-up begins Oct. 24th.
Wed., Thurs., Fri., Nov. 27, 28, 29 — Thanksgiving Break2
Go Spartans!
Clubs Make the School! Note the Diversity of Interests.
During the week of September 9, the WSHS Club Fair was held every day during lunch. Each day, a different group of clubs were represented. Students were able to talk to student club leaders to find out about each of the clubs they were interested in. They signed a membership list for the clubs they wanted to join and received a temporary membership card. Meeting times for clubs are after school on the first Tuesday and third Thursday of every month. Clubs can meet during the day on the second Wednesday, but students will need their membership card to get out of class. These Wednesday meetings allow students who must take a bus or have other after-school obligations to participate in clubs. Organizations that are competitive such as Mock Trial and Quiz Bowl may meet more frequently.
There are twenty-two new clubs at WSHS this year. Visit the main office to view the descriptions of this year’s clubs. Many of the clubs can be found on Facebook.
American Heart Association
Announcement Staff
Art-to-Heart Club
Asian Music Appreciation (AMA)
Authors Club
Baking & Culinary Club
Big Brothers/Big Sisters
Board Game Island
Book Club
Catholic Student Organization
Chess Club
Chinese Language and Culture Club
Community Service Club
Culture Shock International
Deaf Drama
Destination Imagination
Dystopian Literature
Exceptional Foundation Club
FCCLA
Film & Photography Club
Fleece of Faith
Fellowship of Christian Athletes
French Club
German Club
German Honor Society
Global Awareness/ Gardening
Green Team
Guitar Club
Helping Hands
HOSA
Humane Society Club
Illustration Club
International Club
Japanese Club
Jewish Heritage Club
Jump rope Club
Latin Ballroom Dancing
Latin Club
Magic Club
Make a Wish
Math Team
Mock Trial
Model U.N.
Multicultural Club
Music Club
Muslim Student Assn.
Nerdfighters
Online Gaming Club
Optimist Club
Outdoors Club
Pay It Forward
P.O.P.P.I.N.
Pan-African Club
Peer Tutoring Club
Ping Pong Club
Psychology Club
Quiz Bowl
Random Acts of Kindness
Robotics (FIRST)
Sci-Fi & Fantasy Club
Showstoppers Stepteam
Sign Language Club
Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica
Spanish Club
Sparta G.E.M.S.
Spartan Clean
Spartan Spirit Squad
Spectrum
Students Against Pet Abuse (SAPA)
Thespians Club
Together We Can
Transforming Self-Esteem
UNICEF
White Station Clinic
Word Smith Team
Workout Club
Youth Empowering Youth
Youth in Government
The Make A Wish Club is off to a great start with over one-hundred student members. The club plans to have their first fund raiser, a car wash at the Shell Station at Poplar and Perkins from 12:00-4:00 on Saturday, October, 19. Please come out and help us to raise $5,000 to grant the wish of a seriously ill child.
The Sign Language Club made signs the week of Sept. 23 to celebrate Deaf Awareness Week. Did you know that WSHS has a deaf and hard of hearing program which serves students from all over the Mid South? We have the largest Deaf mainstream program in the state of Tennessee and one of the largest in the nation. We are proud of our program and its students and teachers and we will continue to promote awareness of deaf culture and education in the Mid-South. We encourage ALL of our students to learn some sign language in order to communicate with our D/HOH students!
Facing History and Ourselves is an organization which combats racism and anti-Semitism by using history to teach tolerance. Oct. 3 WSHS hosted a teach-in where students from around the city came together for sessions related to stereotyping and society. This event set an attendance record. Dinner followed the activities.
The Arts
Theater
With the help of new theater teacher William Henry, Mr. Boone has the theater department in full swing. They will be performing Crow and Weasel on Oct. 21, 22 and 23 at 7:00. This magical tale set in the mythical land of dreaming, is a coming of age story for the whole family. Auditions for the Jr. and Sr. One Act plays will be held Oct. 29th and 30th from 2:15-4:30. The plays will be performed Jan. 28th - 31st at 7:00. The spring musical, Hairspray, will have auditions late this year or early next year, and is tentatively set for performance in March. Stay tuned!
Choir
The Choirs already have several honors under their collective belts. Over 45 choir students were accepted into the prestigious All West Honor Choir. The performance will be Nov. 23rd at Bellevue Baptist Church. The Men’s Choir has been invited to sing at the American Choral Directors Association convention in Jacksonville, Fl, in mid-March. They were one of only a few choirs invited after they auditioned against dozens of choirs. The Men’s Choir has also performed this fall at a Shelby County Board of Education meeting, and for visiting members of the National School Board Association. The winter performance will be on Friday, Dec. 6th, location TBA. Check out the choir website-wschoirs.com, and please welcome Ms. Nikisha Williams, the new Assistant Choir director.
Mrs. Whittingon had three winners in the Black Writer’s Club’s Contest. Erin Criswell won first place, Anisha Dash won second place, and Jennifer Xuho won third place. There were over sixty entries, so this is a great accomplishment for all the winners.
Sophomore Max Friedman won the music composition division of the Humans In Space International Youth Art competition. Max’s piece Pillars of Creation for choir and orchestra was premiered in Cologne, Germany in July, 2013. Max and his father attended as guests of Humans In Space, a conference of physiologists, astronauts and engineers from space agencies around the world.
Art Contest Winners
2013 Delta Fair:
Alexis Laws — 1st place Junior Division
Tyler Pilkinton — 3rd place Junior Division
Annalee Elmore — 3rd place Senior Division
Hope Hudson — 4th place Senior Division
2013 Mid-South Fair:
Taylor Love — “Best in Show”
Jennifer Xiao — 3rd place
Jeff Carter — Memphis College of Art scholarship winner
Rachel Rotter — Memphis College of Art scholarship winner
Don’t forget! PIE/Athletic Booster Club meeting Tuesday, November 12, at 7:00 pm in the library.
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Excellence for All!
Sports News
Athletic Booster Club
A message from the current president of the WSHS Athletic Booster Club, Richard Myers: The Athletic Booster Club is a very active and committed parent organization dedicated to raising money to help our smaller athletic programs fund their seasons and purchase things that make their programs better. Each team is obligated to self-fund through fundraisers, but oftentimes, there are shortfalls and contingencies not foreseen. We want there to never be a time when our athletes make State, for example, but don’t have sufficient funds to get there. We want our athletes to have everything they need to compete. We want to direct as many White Station High School students into some form of athletic activity as we possibly can. All of this takes money; money we’re working hard to raise.
Spartan 5K & Fall Festival
The Athletic Boosters combined their big fundraiser, the Spartan 5K Run with a Fall Festival on Sept. 28, all in partnership with PIE. The Boosters plan on working closely with PIE on all things going forward. 200 people signed up for the 5K and 135 actually ran. There were approximately 15 team and club sponsor booths. Mr. Wright provided the music. Students, teachers and supporters filled the front courtyard with booths, demonstrations, and fun. The weather was amazing. The girls soccer team won the spirit award by having the most team support in the 5K. The overall woman runner was Rita Jorgenson, an alumna from WSHS, and overall man was Scott Petross. The student winners were Jarrod Mitchell and Courtney Chick. Plan to participate next year. The more, the merrier.
Golf
The Boys won the City Championship for the 30th year in a row, while the girls team won for the 7th year in a row!!
The boys individual city champion was Junior Andy Chung followed by Senior Malik Luckett in the runner-up spot. Also making the All-Tournament team were fellow Spartans Senior Reid Williamson and Sophmore Max Friedman.
In the girl’s competition, Junior Nisha Palanisamy won the city champion title for the second time, followed by Katie Han in 2nd. The rest of the squad also made the All-Tournament team with Senior Abby Parker and Senior Micah Goode.
Both squads advanced to the TSSAA Regional Championship where the girls won the title for the 4th year in a row. Nisha Palanisamy was the Region champion with Katie Han finishing 3rd and Abby Parker finishing in 4th place. The team advanced to the State Championship where they came in eighth place.
In the boys division, Malik Luckett came in 4th overall and qualified for the state for the third time in 4 years. In addition, Malik just got back from the Pebble Beach Jr. Invitational Tournament. This is an incredible honor for Malik, White Station, as well as Memphis.
Football
Varsity beat Arlington 33-14 in a game during Fall Break. Their next game is Oct. 25 against Central at Crump Stadium. Spartan Nation is proud to report the Homecoming game against Overton High showcased the talent of the Varsity Football team. With a win of 38 - 35, the offense put together an unmatched running/passing game, and the defense held their ground and stopped the attack from the Wolverines. Prior to this match, Varsity opened with three tough opponents before settling into a rhythm and beating East High 7-6, and winning over Hamilton High 22-6. Despite a loss, their next game against rival Christian Brothers was highlighted by 11 completed passes by QB Cedric Wilson for 205 yds, including a 54-yd TD pass to Anthony Upchurch.
The Junior Varsity team has completed its regular season with a 4 / 1 record, making them League Champions. With all wins in Conference play, the JV team will compete in the semi-finals on Oct. 14, 6pm, at Melrose stadium. A win against East High will put them in the City Championship on Oct. 21, 5pm, against Trezevant or Mitchell High, at Kirby stadium.
The Freshman team will wrap up a successful season on Oct. 10, 6:30 pm, against Germantown High, at Germantown.
Cross Country
The cross country team is working through their training. Oct 14 is the City Championship where WSHS is favored to win. Regional 8 championship is Oct 25. WSHS girls were the winners last year and they are looking to defend their title again this year. The boys are looking to place in the top 3 teams to qualify for state. The competition in Region 8 is tough with Houston, Collierville, Germantown, and Central as our strongest competitors. Denver Hudsmith and Savannah Jordan will be defending their regional 8 title from last season. Our senior runners are Margaret Haltom, Timothy Woods, Jackson Springer, Evan Potts, Han Le, Phillip Franklin and Denver Hudsmith who have anchored our teams through the training period. The competition phase is yet to come. The team has traveled to Oakville, Alabama, Nashville, TN, and Fayetteville, AR this season.
Girls Volleyball
Our Region 8 tournament will take place on October 15th, but where and who we play are still subjective.
Team record for this season is 31-7 with notable wins over St. George’s, Franklin, Portland, and the Wilson Central Fall Fling Tournament. Ranked #1 in District 16AAA with an undefeated record.
Both Abigail Duncan and Ariel Scott have reached career milestones hitting 500 kills, and Arati Joshi is nearly to 2000 assists. The team is lead by three seniors: Sydney Watson, Kaylee Adams, and Ariel Scott.
Want to donate directly to a WSHS classroom?
Go to www.donorschoose.org
Type WSHS zip code, 38117, in the box for “Projects Near Me”. WSHS will not be the only school that will pop up, but it will be the first listed. Currently, Mrs. Hodges, Mr. Harris, and Dr. Madu are asking for donations to add needed supplies and technology to their classrooms.
2013-2014 National Merit Semifinalists (top 1% who took the PSAT)
Ruby Aurora, Sudeshna Barman, Zachary Billet, Anwesh Dash, Amy Donlon, Sarah Freeland, Abigail Geater, Kirk Presley, Luca Tanaka, Yuqi Zhang
National Achievement Semifinalists: (top 2% of the African-American population who took the PSAT)
Cameron Benson, Katyana Dandridge, Geoffrey Hervey, Kristen Williams
National Merit Commended Students (top 2% of the population who took the PSAT)
Marianne Ballou, David Benham, Cameron Benson, Nancy Deaton, Rechel Geiger, Geoffrey Hervey, Antara Jaima, Jingxin Li, Kyungchan Min, Aston Patrick, Deepak Sathyan, Richard Townley, Kristen Williams
Ninth-grade singer-songwriter Hanna McCarthy is about to record a Kickstarter funded “teen glitter pop” holiday release. She records as Hanna Star and will be accompanied by some great Memphis musicians: Alicja Trout (guitar), Terrence Bishop (bass), Paul Taylor (drums); Krista Wroten-Combest (violin), Jana Misener (cello), and keyboardist Georgia Coles.4
Go Spartans!
PIE Fundraisers
Booksellers at Laurelwood Gift Cards
To order, fill out this form and return it with your check to WSHS PIE.
Orders must be received by Monday, Nov. 18, 2013. Delivery will be by Monday, Dec. 9. (If you need the gift cards delivered earlier, it can be done by prior arrangement.)
NAME _____________________________________________
ADDRESS __________________________________________
PHONE ____________ EMAIL _____________________
Specify number of gift cards desired:
____$ 5 ____$ 10 ____$ 15 ____$ 20 ____$ 25 ____$ 50 ____$ 100
Total amt enclosed $ __________
Make check payable to WSHS PIE.
Please send completed order form and check to:
Bookseller Gift Cards/PIE
White Station High School
514 South Perkins Rd.
Memphis, TN 38117
Here are two easy ways for you to help PIE raise money for the school – Kroger Community Rewards and The Booksellers at Laurelwood (formerly Davis-Kidd) gift cards.
Kroger Community Rewards WSHS PIE can receive a percentage of everything you spend at Kroger when you use your Kroger Plus card. Just go to krogercommunityrewards.com, create an on-line account with your Kroger Card or phone number, and link your account to White Station High School. Look under the “My Account” button, select “Account Settings”, and go to the “Community Rewards” section at the bottom right on the page. “Edit” your community rewards to list “White Station High School – PIE” as your organization name (organization # 80243).
The Booksellers of Laurelwood gift cards Booksellers gives PIE 20% for each gift card we sell. The cards can be used at the store, as well as in the store bistro, Bronte and do not expire. They make great holiday gifts or a treat for yourself! Use the order form printed to the right, or visit www.wshspie.org. All forms and money must be returned by Monday, November 18.
If you have questions, please contact Angie Brittain at fundraising@wshspie.org.
Project Graduation
Spartan Bands Citrus Sale & Sponsorships
It’s time to purchase your holiday season fruit! WSHS Spartan Bands are selling 10-pound cartons of fresh Navel Oranges, Indian River Red Grapefruit, Florida Tangelos, and a mix of Navel Oranges and Red Grapefruit! Make purchases ($22 per carton) with the band students. The White Station Band Parent Association also is seeking active members and sponsors. Call (901) 416-3103 or visit spartanbands.org for more information.
~ Keeping Our Seniors Safe the Night They Graduate ~
Graduation may seem a long way away, but it will be here before you know it. It’s already time to start thinking about WSHS Project Graduation. This is a fun-filled, all night alcohol and drug free lock-in party held on Graduation Night for our WSHS seniors. It’s a event where they can spend time with friends, enjoying fun, games, food and prizes.
The cost of the event is approximately $10,000 which far exceeds what is made from ticket sales. Right now our biggest need is volunteers who would like to help us plan this event, but we also need you to start thinking about businesses you own or know that might donate money, food or door prize items to help us with this event. To join our volunteer list, please email us at: wshsprojectgraduation@gmail.com.
If you would like to be a 2014 Project Graduation Sponsor, please mail your tax-deductible donation to:
Project Graduation/PIE
White Station High School
514 South Perkins Rd.
Memphis, TN 38117
Make your check out to “WSHS PIE” and write “Project Graduation” on the memo line.
For more information, please visit our web page at: www.wshsprojectgraduation.org or our Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/wshsprojectgraduation. Look for more information in the next issue of The Whistler.
DON’T MISS OUT THIS YEAR!!!
Yearbooks are on sale. Only $70 before Nov. 5!! Cash and checks accepted!
Go to twitter.com/WSShield and ask about Senior Ads
December Events
Thursday, December 5 — Winter Band Concert
Friday, December 6 — Choir Concert
Tuesday, December 10 — Orchestra Concert
Wed., Thurs., Fri., Dec. 18, 19, 20 — Semester Exams
December 23 – January 6, 2014 — Holiday Break
Tuesday, January 7, 2014 — Classes Resume
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