Welcome to November! Another month has come and gone, with so many exciting things to celebrate and even more to look forward to in the coming month. November brings both the midterm point of the semester (how did that happen?!) as well as parent-teacher conferences, so please read through the information below for more details on those important dates. I always try to collect and synthesize information from our three host schools here for you, but please also make sure to read correspondence from your student's host school for specific information. Thank you all for your continued support of your student and IHS! |
November 6--NO SCHOOL--Midterm Grading Day
November 10: IHS Site Council meeting
November 11--NO SCHOOL--Veterans Day
November 23-24--NO SCHOOL-Parent Teacher Conferences
November 23--IHS Volunteer/CAS Fair at South HS
November 25-27--NO SCHOOL--Thanksgiving Break
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The 4j budget cuts are impacting every facet of public education in our school district, and unfortunately, Eugene IHS is not immune. Besides staffing cuts in our school, there is also a spending freeze for all "non-essential" budget items as the district continues to work towards closing the gaps in the budget.
Eugene IHS wants to continue to offer students a robust, creative, and engaging curriculum in the upcoming school years, but that type of education requires money--busses for field trips, fees for special guest speakers in our classrooms, art supplies for projects and presentations, awards and rewards for student achievements, enrichment texts and materials for new curricula, subscriptions to academic online resources, graduation costs, and much more.
In order to be able to provide the same kind of classroom experiences for our students this year, we are asking our wonderful IHS community of parents, families, and alumni to consider donating to our school directly. Below is the QR code that will take you to the donations page for Eugene IHS. Please consider donating to help us maintain the level of excellence we know our students deserve.
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IHS Site Council Meetings have begun! We held our first meeting in October, and we had a great turnout of parents, teachers, and students. We meet once a month, normally on the second Tuesday of the month, from 4:15-5:15 at South High School in room 541.
OUR NEXT MEETING WILL BE ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10th. If you are interested in being a parent member for IHS Site Council, please email me at dearinger_c@4j.lane.edu. I will add you to our email list so you can receive updates and a copy of the agenda before each meeting.
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Thanks to everyone who took time out of your busy evenings to attend our annual IB Junior Parent Night and IHS Information Night in October. We had a great turnout at both events, and we hope everyone found our presentations to be informative. If you were unable to attend either night, or if you want to review the information more closely on your own, you can find links to both presentations on our IHS school website. |
The IHS Literary Magazine, Meadowlark, is looking for student art, photography, poetry, prose, and written and recorded music for the 2027 edition. Students can submit up to 5 works via the link below through January 2027. Any IHS student is eligible to submit work! IHS teacher Kayla Punt is the faculty advisor--feel free to reach out to her (punt_k@4j.lane.edu) with questions.
Join our team by applying to be an editor (we are accepting 2-3 new editors this year) or social media intern HERE.
Submit your works – music, art, photography, prose, poetry, etc. – HERE.
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Zombie Run a Huge Success!
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On Sunday, October 18, around 40 IHS students and three IHS teachers from all IHS campuses participated in the "Run For Your Life" Zombie 5K for ShelterCare. This is the second year in a row IHS students volunteered at this even, and it was once again organized by IHS teacher Lisa Joye and supported by our IHS Student Government. Students tie-dyed t-shirts (Creativity hours), volunteered during the race by jumping out and scaring runners (Service hours), and ran the 5K together(Activity hours). Congratulations to Gavin Lees, IHS Sheldon Junior, who has won the race two years in a row! We hope to continue this fun IHS October tradition again next year! |
One of the requirements of the IB diploma, as well as the IHS honorary diploma, is the completion of CAS hours outside of the school day. CAS stands for Creativity, Activity, and Service--students have many different ways to complete these hours, and our Junior Seminar course will help introduce CAS to students and teach them how to track their hours.
We also have a wonderful CAS coordinator on our staff. Jenny Hehnke helps track and advertise service opportunities for students throughout the year. Please use the link below to view the slides that Jenny updates regularly with CAS service opportunities!
And keep reading below for more information about our 3rd annual CAS Fair coming up this month!
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IHS is in need for new merchandise designs for this year! If you have a fun new idea for IHS merch, please submit scans of your artwork to THIS LINK . Get your creations featured on shirts, quarter zips, tote bags and more!
This year, the merch theme is THE GREAT OUTDOORS. Think campfires, the PNW, animals, and anything else that fits this theme! Design something that fits into this category and submit using the link above.
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Parent Teacher Conferences
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Just like the last three years, each high school will hold parent teacher conferences during the week of Thanksgiving break. IHS teachers will be available during these days to meet with parents across all three campuses. However, IHS teachers who travel between two campuses will need to split their time between those schools. Please make sure you schedule time with IHS teachers on the day they are going to be at your student's campus.
Churchill's conferences will be held on:
Wednesday, Nov. 18 from 4-8 pm
Monday, Nov. 23 from 8-8 pm
Sheldon's conferences will be on:
Monday, Nov. 23 from 8-8 pm
Tuesday, Nov. 24 from 8-12 pm
South Eugene has not finalized their conference hours yet. Please look for communication from Sheldon, Churchill, and South Eugene for details about how to sign up and specific teacher locations.
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Planning is underway for our third annual Volunteer/CAS Fair! CAS is an element of the IB curriculum and it stands for Creativity, Activity, and Service. Service opportunities require students to go out into the community and engage in some type of community service. The CAS Fair is an opportunity for various community organizations to advertise volunteering options for high school students, and it's a time for students to learn about all the exciting service organizations working in the Eugene area.
In order to earn the IHS Diploma, students must complete (100) hours of CAS during their junior and senior years. However, we encourage our 9th and 10th graders to get involved with service opportunities that they can continue once their CAS hours begin. Students will learn everything they need to know about CAS during junior seminar. CAS hours are also part of the requirements for earning the IB diploma.
We will hold our CAS Fair on Monday, November 23rd from 11:00-1:00 at South Eugene in the main office hallway. All IHS students from all three campuses are encouraged to attend! Juniors will earn extra credit in Junior Seminar if they show proof of attendance.
We are still working on confirming organizations, but in the past we've had representatives from Positive Community Kitchen, Greenhill Humane Society, Planned Parenthood, The Museum of Natural and Cultural History, Ophelia's Place, WOW Theatre, Free Bikes for Kids, Friends of Frenchies, and many more! We are hoping to add another 10-12 organizations to have a robust showing of all the wonderful places available for student volunteers!
And a big thanks to South Eugene IHS parents Ryann Watson-Stites and Sara Harrington for taking the lead to organize the CAS Fair this year. We so appreciate your gifts of time and energy to make this event happen again this year! If you have any questions, or if you have contact information for an organization you think might want to join us, please reach out to our IHS teacher Jenny Hehnke (hehnke_j@4j.lane.edu). We hope to see many of our students there!
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Over the past few years, two strong groups of young women on our Sheldon and South Eugene campuses started our IHS branches of Women in STEM club. These groups meet regularly to discuss career opportunities in STEM, bring in guest speakers, research local events and scholarships, and generally support each other's future dreams and goals.
Sheldon meetings: Thursdays at lunch in B-10
South meetings: Tuesday Advisory lunch in 534
Churchill meetings: We are looking for a few good leaders to head up a Churchill branch of Women in STEM this year! Please reach out to me (dearinger_c@4j.lane.edu) or IHS secretary Lynne Given (given_l@4j.lane.edu) if you are interested!
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This year, we have an unprecedented number for our IHS juniors and seniors taking IB exams! Here is the breakdown of the numbers:
--We have 112 senior full diploma candidates
--We have 61 senior course candidates (seniors taking at least (1) IB exam)
--We have 165 anticipated candidates (juniors registered to take the IB Econ exam and anticipated to take at least one more exam next year)
That's 336 IHS juniors and seniors who are planning to take at least (1) IB exam this spring!
As a reminder, IB exams ARE NOT REQUIRED to remain in IHS, and we support whatever decision a student makes about testing in IB subjects. Please see below for a reminder of the testing options available in IHS.
These numbers are important because we have to start planning for IB testing season in May.
Please take a look at the IB EXAM CALENDAR on the IHS website and consider being a volunteer for one or more of the testing times. Volunteers help proctor exams, distribute materials, and monitor students during testing. Any IHS parent can be a volunteer--it's a great way to learn more about what to expect for IB exams if your own student is interested. Parents are not allowed to proctor an exam that your own child is taking, but you can proctor any other exam. We are going to need A LOT of help to make this testing season successful! I'll put more information for parent IB proctors in the newsletter starting in January.
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When I present the IB testing options for IHS students, I often use the "buffet" analogy to help explain the three choices available to all IHS students. First, here are a few important facts:
- Eugene IHS is the only IB certified school available for students who attend Sheldon, Churchill, and South Eugene high schools (North HS is also an IB-certified school in the district)
- The IB organization requires that a student is enrolled in an IB certified school in order to be eligible to take IB exams; therefore, ONLY STUDENTS ENROLLED IN EUGENE IHS (AND NORTH HS) ARE ALLOWED TO TAKE IB EXAMS
This means that if your student decides to withdraw from IHS, they are NO LONGER ELIGIBLE to take any IB exams in any subject area
However, Eugene IHS DOES NOT REQUIRE any student to take any IB exams to stay enrolled in our school. IB exams are not included in the course grade for any subject.
Here is the buffet analogy:
- Full IB Diploma--this is like taking something from everything offered on the buffet. Full IBdiploma candidates test in all (6) subject areas (Math, Science, Literature, History, WorldLanguage, and Economics), in addition to completing their Extended Essay and required CAShours. This is the most academically rigorous and demanding option available for high schoolstudents. This year, we have 102 students pursuing the IB diploma!
- Course Candidate--this is like sampling a few options from the buffet, but not everything.Course candidates pick and choose (think a la carte) the courses they want to test in--astudent might choose to only take the IB math and IB science tests, or only the IB history andIB literature testes. They can take between 1-5 IB exams from the list above (if they took all 6they would be a full diploma candidate).
- No testing at all---this is like walking up to the buffet and deciding you're not hungry :)Students can also choose not to take any tests at all. They are still enrolled in the IB courses,they receive the weighted GPA on their transcripts, and they still receive the IHS honorarydiploma.
We go over all of this information in more detail at the 10th grade IB parent night in the spring and the Junior IB Parent night in the fall. If you have any questions, feel free to email our IB coordinator Steve Smith (smith_st@4j.lane.edu) or me (dearinger_c@4j.lane.edu).
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Summer Travel Opportunities
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Get ready for an incredible adventure to Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands! We’ll begin high in the Andes exploring the historic streets of Quito, then stand with one foot in each hemisphere at the equator, where we’ll try some of the unusual experiments that can only be done there. We’ll visit the colorful Otavalo Market before flying to the legendary Galápagos Islands, where the real adventure begins! Students will walk among giant tortoises, contribute to a hands-on conservation service project, and experience some of the most extraordinary wildlife on Earth. We’ll spend plenty of time snorkeling in the crystal-clear waters of the Galápagos, where we may swim alongside sea turtles, sea lions, tropical fish, penguins, and other marine life. We’ll explore beautiful island communities, visit the Charles Darwin Research Station, learn how scientists are working to protect this remarkable ecosystem, and relax and swim at spectacular Tortuga Bay, where sea turtles, sea lions, and flamingos may be sharing the beach with us. This is a chance to experience one of the most unique places on the planet—not just as tourists, but as explorers, snorkelers, and conservationists!
Want to learn more?
Visit the Trip Website
Or email trip leader Lisa Joye: Travelwithlisajoye@gmail.com
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The IHS branch of Model UN has officially kicked off the 2026-2027 session! This year, our IHS group will be representing Panama and France. Meetings are held twice per month at each campus during lunch, and the Model UN State Conference will held in the spring at the University of Oregon. Students are still able to participate this year! So If your student is interested in joining Model UN, please reach out to Steve Smith (smith_st@4j.lane.edu) or Joanne Heidel (heidel_j@4j.lane.edu) or just show up to the next Model UN lunch meeting! |
Eugene IHS offers students a chance to earn an honorary diploma at the end of our four years together. Students still earn their high school diploma from their host school--for example, a student's high school diploma is from Sheldon High School, but they also receive the honorary IHS diploma as recognition for completing our separate set of standards and requirements. Eugene IHS holds our own separate graduation ceremony at the Hult Center (my favorite night of the school year!) where we recognize graduating seniors together from all three host campuses.
In order to earn the honorary IHS diploma, students must do the following:
--Complete all required IHS courses in 11th-12th grade
--Complete a final draft of the Extended Essay research paper (completed during Junior Seminar)
--Take at least (3) years of a world language (does not have to be the same language all three years)
--Complete (100) CAS hours (Creativity, Activity, Service) during junior and senior year
--Complete all graduation requirements for the high school diploma
**Please note that students DO NOT have to take any IB exams in order to earn the IHS diploma.IB testing and the IHS diploma are separate and do not affect the student's ability to earn the IHS diploma.**
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Eugene IHS Graduation 2027 |
Our IHS Graduation Ceremony will take place on Friday, June 11 at 7:00 pm at the Hult Center! I will put important graduation information in this newsletter starting in January. |
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