Another year of accomplishments, new faces and packed schedules

Welcome back to another year of Carson High School news! The first day of school is today so hopefully you've managed to get those new backpacks together. It is an A-day at CHS so make sure you are ready for your A-day teachers.

Summer means vacation, traveling, relaxing, and summer jobs for many of our students. However, two of our students Clark Milholland and Lydia Peri were busy winning at CHS at the 2007 SkillsUSA National Championship in Web Design in Kansas City, Mo. Over 5,000 contestants participated in this event.

Two-person teams assumed the roles of web designer, webmaster, and web developer. The contest required them to build a completely functional Web site for a nonprofit agency. Congratulations to them for bringing the trophy and winning this esteemed title. They are the first CHS SkillsUSA team to win at the national level. Way to go Senators!

Continuing with CHS accomplishments, the following report was provided by Mr. Carl Henry, vice-principal. Carson High School celebrates its outstanding improvement on the high school proficiency tests. Because of the hard work of our learning community, the high school made AYP (adequate yearly progress), and if one specific subgroup had shown greater improvement, we would have been designated High Achieving.

Our overall math proficiency percentage for the school was 81 percent. For reading and writing, 96 percent of our juniors were proficient. We're especially proud of the hard work with the special education and limited English proficiency students. IEP students were 61 percent proficient in math, an increase from 40 percent last year, and 78 percent proficient in reading and writing, up from 60 percent. For our LEP students, they increased their proficiency percentage from 55 percent in math last year to 75 percent in 2006-07.

Their improvement in reading and writing proficiency showed in a jump from 79 percent to 92 percent. All subgroups met the required proficiency cut score and none had to use Safe Harbor or an appeal process. Way to go Carson High students and staff!

The CHS Culinary Arts Program led by teacher and chef Penny Reynolds will be preparing a delectable range of cuisine for the Nevada Grows reception to be held at the Governor's Mansion on Sept. 7. The reception features all Nevada-grown products from over a dozen Nevada agricultural producers. Live entertainment provided by country superstar Hal Ketchum. For more information, contact Jean Carbon at 784-4390.

CHS welcomes 16 new teachers to our school this year: Lance Gordec, Jarod Sorum, Kody Hayes, Lynette Brown, Jackie Spotts, Patrick Tobin, Shelby Sanders, Mike Mathis, Rebecca Hogan, Linda Carr, Dennis Capriola, Jessica Burke, Erin Smith, Bryan Manoukian, Devin Nielsen, and Greg Burge.

Home athletic events this week include Boys Varsity tennis on Tuesday against Churchill County High and on Thursday Girls Varsity Tennis against Damonte Ranch High and Girls Volleyball against Reed High. Come out and support our Senators!

Mark your calendars for some major upcoming events at CHS. There will be a rally, home football game and welcome back dance on Sept. 7. Sept. 24Ð29 is Homecoming Week at CHS. Look for more details in the Senator Square column in the weeks to come. Have a great year Senators!

• Angila Golik is a teacher at CHS and co-founding member of Senator Pride.