Dear Alumni Students* and Families,

I hope all is well in your corner of Cougar nation. We wanted to let you know about several opportunities to re-connect with Casco Bay in this our tenth year.

1) For the second year, we will be offering our Alumni Intensives Teaching Fellows program. This program is designed to give valuable education work experience to alumni of Casco Bay High School during Winter Intensives, the first full week of January (the 5th-9th, typically 7:55-2:05, daily). Last year, we had about 10 alums helping out with Winter Intensives, and it was fantastic. See the attachment below for more details and complete the brief application if you are interested. Applications are due December 5th. 

2014-15 Intensives Teaching Fellow Program and Application

3) Do you remember the Winter Solstice Assembly? When we all sat in a circle (of course) and shared what we were thankful for in the CBHS community? Well, we are doing it again on December 23^rd at 1pm in the Great Space, and this time, in honor of our tenth Solstice, we are inviting interested alumni to come join the circle and participate as you wish. We think our current students will really benefit from seeing you and hearing what you might (still) appreciate about your time at CBHS. Come at 12:30 for an alumni reception in the library. The Solstice will begin about 1pm.

4) Alumni Parents PAG Meeting – March 10^th (6:30-8:00pm). OK, we promise you will not have to volunteer for anything, but we will tour the new space on the third floor with current PAG members. (Hopefully, the renovations will be complete by then.) Afterwards, those interested can head over to the Great Lost Bear to further catch up.

5) Two dates to save for 10^th Anniversary Celebrations

a) Class of 2015 Graduation – Thursday, June 2^nd at 6pm at Merrill. You remember the drill. We added a new alumni processional at the beginning of the ceremony last June and are hoping to see even more of you this year. This year, post-ceremony, all alums are informally invited to gather at Bayside Bowl for more socializing and re-connecting.

b) 10^th Anniversary Alumni Picnic – Saturday June 13^th (noon to 3pm) at Fort Williams Park. This is the big one, and we want all of you to be there. We will eat, laugh and stand in a circle. There may even be some ultimate frisbee. There will definitely be the chance to build your Alumni Class Cardboard Boat and compete for eternal glory in the annual race later that week (depending on the number of snow days this year). Save the date and time!

Help Wanted: We are looking for one or more alums from each class who might be interested in gathering photos and memories from your class. We would like to formally gather these in some way, but we need the help of a few more tech savvy alums to figure out the best way to pull this off. Contact me if you are interested in being a point person for your class. (Thanks to Emma Robinson, Troy Ali and Sofi Proia for already stepping forward for their class.)

Finally, thanks for all of the support so many of you showed for me and Casco Bay during the nomination process for the Larry O’Toole award. I know the voting process was a bit bizarre, but in case you did not hear, we won! We will soon be receiving a $100,000 to ensure we can continue expeditions like Junior Journey and Senior Quest – and support the next batch of great student ideas.

I hope all is well. Please contact Stephanie Doyle with any questions, alumni news or updated contact information: Doyles@portlandschools.org. May our paths cross soon.

Sincerely,

Mr. Pierce

*Alumni Parents and Students: Please forward this information on to others!