Graduation Information

The potential for severe storms will require an in-door graduation ceremony this evening.  Yesterday students received five tickets each.  Due to limited capacity in the gymnasium, we cannot provide extra tickets at this time.  There is a chance additional seating will be available; however, we cannot promise seating to anyone without a ticket. Any additional seating will be very limited as well.  Guests must arrive with a ticket in hand.  

The Groton Channel will broadcast the graduation ceremony live on the Groton Channel.  In addition, we will stream the presentation into some classrooms.  However, the picture quality is not very good.  Graduation will begin promptly at 6pm.  We look forward to seeing you this evening to celebrate the Class of 2014

Graduation Information & More

Class Night Graduation Ceremony
First of all I would like to thank all members of the community who attended Class Night last evening.  It was a great night that showcased many of our students.  We honored students for academic excellence, and local community members awarded more than 137,000 dollars in scholarships.  Thank you very much!

Today students rehearsed for both an indoor and outdoor graduation ceremony.  The weather for tomorrow is tenuous at best with current forecasts calling for a fifty percent chance of scattered showers.  We will make the final decision on an in-door or outdoor ceremony by early afternoon tomorrow.  We will notify all parents by phone, email, and it will also be on our website.  This morning each student received five tickets in case weather dictates an in-door ceremony. In an effort to maximize available seating, we made minor alternations to the gymnasium configuration.  The five ticket per student allotment brings us to capacity.  No person will be admitted without a ticket. Regardless of location the ceremony will begin at 6pm.  We look forward to seeing you tomorrow evening.

Groton Channel Live Broadcast
If the ceremony is indoors the Groton Channel will be airing the ceremony live on Groton Television.  In addition, the ceremony will stream live into several classrooms for those without a ticket.

Host Families Needed
If you are interested in hosting an international student next year please contact principal, Michael Mastrullo.

Boys & Girls Tennis
Congratulations to both the Boys & Girls Tennis Teams for winning the Sportsmanship Award! Way to make us proud.

Senior Grades
Senior grades are now available on both iStudent and iParent.  Final transcripts will be sent to all colleges next week.

Principal's Notes

Progress Reports
Progress reports are available for viewing in iParent and iStudent

Student Developed App 

David Heffernan and Liam Brown, two freshmen at GDRHS, participated in a 12+ hour Hackathon back in February.  As a result of this experience and some self-taught programming, they created the app PopUpQuiz. This Android app was recently added to the Google Play store.

Users can download and install this free app to borrow or build their own card decks for studying.  What makes this app a little different than others is its ability to populate questions based on a timing system set by the user.  The beauty of this app is its ability to set PopUpQuiz so that it generates a new question at any interval determined by the user, e.g. 8 seconds, 10 minutes, etc.  

As Liam puts it, "Download the FREE app PopUpQuiz to counter procrastination.  Turn your studying from a boring, isolated time into an engaging game where you can still text and call!  No more cramming sessions before the test once you download the free PopUpQuiz app today!"

Support their efforts and give it a try.  Visit the Google Play store and search for PopUpQuiz, or use this case sensitive link, bit.ly/PopUpQuiz.

Spring Concert
This Thursday May 22nd is the HS Spring Concert at the PAC. Concert starts at 7:00 pm.

Come out and enjoy a night of entertainment.

Community Yard Sale

By Marisa Brisson

A HUGE THANK YOU to all community members who dropped off donation items Friday night for the 1^st Annual GDRHS Yard Sale held on Saturday.  Additionally, THANK YOU to the student volunteers.  Without your support, hard work and dedication, this event would not have been the success it was. 

THANK YOU to Peter McLaughlin, The Bettencourt triplets, Alyssa Ash, Chris Ellis, Jessica Chu, Riley Rainville, Connor Johnson and Evan Cao. Thank you to Mr. O’Connor’s and his Design class for creating our awesome poster! Thank you to Mr. Arena, Alyssa Ash and Chris Ellis for the use of their pickup trucks to deliver the leftover items to Savers in Nashua, NH. We made over $600 dollars which will be donated to the Best Buddies and Global Scholars Programs. Additionally, we donated all of the excess clothing items to the Groton Give And Take, the children’s toys and games to a children’s consignment shop in Tyngsboro and the remaining items to Savers in Nashua. This event was a quick and fun way to raise money for two outstanding groups! Thank you again.

Ms. Brisson enjoying the yard sale

Principal's Notes

Night of Improv & Senior Art Show
The Destination Imagination Team is working in conjunction with the Art Department for an arts night out. The Senior Art Show will be May 9th from 5:50 to 7:30 in the front commons.  DI will be hosting A Night of Improv from 7:30-9 in the BBX.  What's going to happen?  Your guess is as good as ours.  Come and find out at the high school.

Unified Sports Track Meet
GDRHS will host a unified track meet on Tuesday, May 6th starting at 3:30.  GD will play host to North Middlesex Regional High School and Lunenburg HS.   Unified sports has been a tremendously successful initiative.  Last year was the inaugural season, and thanks to the amazing staff members and students who participate it has proven a great success.  Below is some background information on Unified Sports along with a link to the Special Olympics website, which includes additional information.

DEFINITION

Unified Sports is a program that combines approximately equal numbers of individuals with (athletes) and without (partners) intellectual disabilities on the same sports teams for training and competition. All participants are of similar age and ability. Unified Sports is an important program because it expands sports opportunities for athletes and partners seeking new challenges. In addition, Unified Sports dramatically increases inclusion in the community by helping to break down barriers that have historically kept people apart. At the same time, Unified Sports provides a valuable sports opportunity to individuals who are not presently involved with Special Olympics or other sports programs.

http://www.soct.org/programs/unified.shtml

Social Media Video

We can all relate to the notion of a disengaged student engrossed with their phone, iPad, or some other electronic device.  I shared the following video with students, and I would recommend setting aside a few minutes of your time to enjoy it.  Follow the link below.  

A Video With One Powerful Message For Us All! So True!

http://sfglobe.com/?id=637&src=share_fb_new_637

GD Community Yard Sale

For more information on the GD Community Yard Sale please follow the link provided. http://www.gdrsd.org/gdrhs

Music Competition

GD competed against 7 high schools from all over the country.  Our students, led by Mr. Savoy, performed exceptionally.  Our results are as follows: Concert Band 2nd place, Jazz band 1st place and best overall instrumental group. Chorus 1st place, and best overall choir, and we swept the Individual categories: best vocal solo, best instrumental solo, and best accompanist. Our chorus beat all of the other choirs, and this was accomplished with a chorus of 60% students that have never sung before. 

GD Community Yard Sale