Hello!

I’m Lisa Small, Superintendent of High School District 211.

Today, I’m at Palatine High School, where we hosted our First Generation College Workshop. This event is a way to celebrate and empower students who will be the first in their families to attend college, or whose parents are unfamiliar with the U.S. higher education system.

I attended the event, and it was so exciting to see the cafeteria and media center full of families. More than 700 people attended and were able to learn about future possibilities after high school.  If you missed that event, you can find information on the presentations on the resources section of this newsletter.

This event is one of many we offer to prepare our students for career, college and life readiness. We also offer a Directions Fair for students transitioning to college with special needs, a College Night in March  with representatives from hundreds of colleges and universities, and a Job Fair in April for students who plan to go right into the workforce following graduation. They’re offered skilled jobs and immediate openings.

All of this reflects our mission to prepare an increasingly diverse student body for their future. We also offer Career Treks to explore jobs, off-site work opportunities and more. Talk with your counselor to learn more about these experiences, or check out the Career and College Readiness link below.

You’ve heard me talk frequently is the power of involvement. This means participating in school activities or athletics, but it can also mean working in the community, volunteering and more. We know that students who feel this sense of belonging and are actively involved do better. 

Today, I wanted to introduce you to some Palatine students who are involved in some of our newer activities at Palatine. Each of our schools offers a diverse range of activities and athletic teams. They’re here to talk with me now, so you can hear directly from them how connecting afterschool is  impacting their high school experience. 

Thank you so much to our PHS students for being a part of this newsletter. We have over 70 activities and 30 sports at each school.

I encourage each student to find a connection to the school outside of their classwork.  It is a wonderful way to meet other students who have a similar interest or passion.  Each school has an activities and athletics tab on their website where you can find out more about what is offered at your school.

It’s hard to believe how quickly the school year is moving. I’m pleased to see that we are overall seeing better attendance at our schools, and encourage you to continue to make daily attendance a priority.

I can’t wait to see what the rest of the year brings.

Thank you for being part of our learning community!