Volume 5 Issue 9 | April 2022
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE MARCH 2022 HSC MEETING
Minutes from past meetings and dates of upcoming meetings can be found here.
The next HSC meeting is Monday, April 18th, at 7pm on Zoom.
Email us any time with questions or suggestions: president@leighhsc.org.
Highlights from Principal Kara Butler
  • The school year is wrapping up quickly! Please be sure to read Mrs. Butler's weekly bulletins for end-of-year information.


  • Next year (2022-23) will be Leigh's 60th Anniversary. Leigh opened in 1962 and the first graduating class was 1963. There will be an Anniversary Celebration at the Homecoming football game in the Fall.
Highlights from the Leigh Community Liaison
  • Welcome to Sandra Soto, our new bilingual Community Liaison for LHS! This position is new to Leigh this year. Her role is to support Leigh families in many different ways. Some examples include assisting in Leigh’s ELAC (English Learner Advisory Committee) meetings and promoting the participation of parents of our diverse population, providing parent workshops, and by helping connect students and families with appropriate resources at school and in the community. View Ms. Soto's Community Liaison webpage to learn more about this role.

  • Ms. Soto is currently helping students who need prom dresses and tuxedos. She would like to find a source for free or discounted tuxedo rental for prom. If you have a contact or source for this, please contact president@leighhsc.org.

  • The HSC has put in place a new volunteer position called Community Liaison Support. This parent will support Ms. Soto and her role at Leigh.
Highlights from College & Career Specialist, Nathalie Goricanec
Career Fair at Leigh - April 14th, 2022, 12-2pm
  • Volunteers needed. Details below.

Upcoming Events and Opportunities
  • View the CCC website to learn about upcoming financial aid workshops, college tours, engineering conferences, college tours, scholarship opportunities and more.
HOME AND SCHOOL CLUB FUNDING

Annual Giving Drive & Large Donations
With thanks to the generosity of our community, our income this year exceeded our goal through very generous annual giving drive donations, higher than expected corporate matching, and large anonymous donations. This allows us to fund many more programs and items than planned. With input from Mrs. Butler and Leigh staff, our HSC Board and Committees, and our community members, and after much discussion and thoughtful consideration, the following programs/items were approved for funding at the March HSC meeting.
  • $500: High quality wireless mic for speakers in the gym
  • $2,100: Physics Lab sensor kit
  • $2,500: Lunch time lawn activities
  • $4,000: Bulletin Board replacements
  • $4,000: Graphing Calculators - Math Dept (class set of 32)
  • $5,000: Community Liaison support
  • $5,000: Speakers (visitor side of the bowl)
  • $5,000: Wellness Center carpet
  • $7,000: Science supplies (beakers, scales, microscopes, etc)
  • $10,000: Wellness Center programs & storage furniture

Staff Grants
The following staff grants were also approved at the March HSC meeting:
  • $80: floor lamp for Mr. Dorsen's classroom in the French department.
  • $85: three poetry books and 87 customized pencils for Ms. Nakamura's AP English Literature class. The poetry books are prizes for the "March Poetry Madness" tournament, and the pencils are part of a goodie bag Ms. Nakamura is making for students who are taking the AP exam. 
  • $230: BrainPop annual subscription for the Autism Program.
  • $300: flowers and decorations for the Senior Scholarship breakfast celebration. At this event, students are honored for receiving scholarships, and community members are thanked for awarding thousands of dollars in scholarships to our Leigh seniors. 

Recent items funded
  • $9,480: supplies and furnishings for the Wellness Center
  • $197: posters for Sociology
MARCH STAFF APPRECIATION

How lucky! The Staff Appreciation Team and parent volunteers made sure there were lots of bagels and treats at the end of the rainbow this month!
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES - YOUR SUPPORT IS NEEDED

CAREER FAIR AT LEIGH - APRIL 14, 12PM-2PM
  • Share your career: we are looking for parents, relatives and community members who would be willing to hold a booth/table to present their career to the Leigh students. No formal presentation required – just be willing to share with students, in a small setting, what you do and how you got there. We welcome anyone willing to talk about their current or past careers! If you are interested, please sign-up here.
  • Help with logistics: Volunteers are needed to deliver pizza and cupcakes, help with set up and clean up, help with distributing food. If you can help, please contact Ms. Goricanic at ngoricanec@cuhsd.org.

LEIGH CAMPUS CLEAN-UP DAY - APRIL 23, 9AM-1PM
  • Please join us for a campus clean-up day. We will be weeding, planting, and cleaning up campus. Join us for an hour or the whole time! Show your longhorn pride and help make campus beautiful! Grab your garden tools from home and bring them with you. A task like will be available that day and you can choose what chores you would like to do. Students can earn volunteer time. RSVP is not mandatory but is appreciated. Sign up here.

LONGHORN STAMPEDE 5K - MAY 21, 6:30AM-12:30PM (various shifts)
  • We need MANY volunteers to help with the Longhorn Stampede! Opportunities include set-up, clean-up, t-shirt pick-up, course marshal, photographer, helping at the water-station, handing out medals, and more. Parents, students, alumni, incoming families, and community members are all invited to volunteer. All students will receive community service hours. This will be a really fun morning as we come together to celebrate our community! Please sign up here.

GRAD NIGHT CHAPERONES - JUNE 2, 9PM-3AM
  • Parents of 9th/10th/11th Graders are needed to accompany the Seniors on the buses to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and be available to provide support if needed at the boardwalk. This is a fun evening evening for everyone and a great way to see what Grad Night will entail when your student is a Senior. If you can help, please email gradnight@leighhsc.org.

HOME & SCHOOL CLUB BOARD & COMMITTEES
  • The Leigh Home & School Club invites you to join our Board and Committees for the 2022-23 school year. Most Home & School Club tasks are done from home and do not require you to be at school. All skills and interests are needed, and you can put in as much or as little time as you have available. This is a wonderful way to support our school and also get to know other parents in our community! If you have a skill you’d like to share or you are someone who just likes to get stuff done, please contact our HSC president, Susan Smith, at president@leighhsc.org.
VIRTUAL WELLNESS CENTER

As part of the Home & School Club's support of the Wellness Center, our Mental Health & Wellness Committee created a Virtual Wellness Center. Students (and parents!) can explore the links and resources to help them relax, unwind, get connected, and find new strategies and tools for managing stress and emotions. You also visit the calming room for links to guided meditations and other calming resources. Click on the image below to access the Virtual Wellness Center.
How can parents support the Wellness Center?

  • Visit the Wellness Center website to learn more about Mental Health and Wellness resources at Leigh and in our community.
  • Talk to your student about the Wellness Center - Ask them if they have stopped by.
  • Buy books for our Lending Library using the wishlist on the Hicklebee's website. No need to pay for shipping - the bookstore will deliver them directly to Leigh.
SAVE THE DATE for the LHS SPRING MUSICAL:
Drowsy Chaperone

Nominated for multiple Broadway and West End theatre awards, and winning five Tony Awards and seven Drama Desk Awards, Drowsy Chaperone is a hilarious parody of 1920s musicals.

Tickets will go on sale soon at https://www.leightheaterarts.com/buytickets.

Show dates are April 22, 23, 28, 29, 30 @ 7:00 pm, and April 30 @ 1:00 pm.
Understudy night is April 28th.
STAMPEDE 5K: LAST DAY FOR EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION IS TODAY!

The last day to sign up for early bird registration for the Longhorn Stampede 5K is today, Wednesday, March 31st! Sign up now and come celebrate our community! Special family rate available. Come enjoy this wonderful community celebration!
PURCHASE GRAD LAWN SIGNS

Can you believe it? Do you hear that calendar page turning? Is your lawn feeling bare? Incredibly, graduation will be here before we know it and that means it’s time to buy your “Leigh Grad” lawn sign to show how proud you are of your Leigh graduate!

Order your yard sign online now! We will have pick up times at Leigh and will send out the dates and times via the email address you list when you place your order as the year progresses. Congrats to our seniors and their families on making it through these last crazy school years! Any questions, please contact Alexis Hoekstra at alexishoekstra@comcast.net.

Thank you for supporting Leigh! (PS--These signs are used as a fundraiser for the Leigh Grad night celebration, the Herff Jones signs DO NOT funnel any portion of their profits to our school.)
PURCHASE GRAD NIGHT TICKETS FOR SENIORS!
Grad Night at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk promises to be an unforgettable night for our seniors as they spend one last time together as a class. Chartered luxury buses will collect students from Leigh at 9:00 pm and return by 3:00 am the next morning. Our new Graduates will spend the night of June 2 and morning of June 3 celebrating their time together. This ultimate Graduation Party brings together the class of 2022 for a celebration of their four years together.

HOME & SCHOOL CLUB MARCH MEETING
Monday, April 18 @ 7pm via Zoom

We invite you to join us for our next Home & School Club meeting. Zoom link is below. Dates for all future HSC meetings are here - mark your calendar!

ALL ARE WELCOME!  


Meeting ID: 918 5093 0665
Are you shopping on Amazon? Yes? Great! Use Amazon Smile and a % of your purchase automatically comes back to Leigh HSC. Shop at smile.amazon.com/ch/77-0199809 or with AmazonSmile ON in the app. This is free money for Leigh HSC - to date we have received $974 through this program. Thank you for your support!
Leigh High School Home and School Club is an all volunteer 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Tax ID # is 77-0199809. All donations are tax-deductible.