For Thursday, February 13
Hit the GLIC!
The Grade-Level Information Center has information that is relevant for each class.
An index and archive for this year’s weekly Mustang Minutes
Our Daily Announcements to our students
Thank you for coming to 8th Grade Family Night!
Thank you so much to all the families who were able to attend! Most importantly, thank you as a family for talking and thinking and making so many important decisions in the days ahead.
Here is a link to our program, for last night’s event, and here is the presentation that guided us through the evening’s conversation. It is so important that we keep these conversations going, so we do right by all our kids and so they are all in their best classes come next fall. So as you have questions and thoughts, please reach out anytime. Thanks for this!
Thinking about our juniors and the SAT this spring
This spring, Juniors will again be taking the SAT on their computers instead of using bubble sheets and a number 2 pencil. One advantage is that students all have access to practice tests right on their school-provided Chromebook. By opening the Bluebook™ app, students will be able to practice both math and English skills in the same digital format they will see when they take the SAT in April. Bluebook™ offers four full-length digital adaptive tests and provides scoring feedback to students. Since an entire 2-hour practice test has to be completed for students to receive that feedback, we want to encourage all of our students to set aside time at home to do this. To access the app, students need to log out of their accounts, and click the Bluebook™ icon at the bottom right of the home screen of their school Chromebooks. They will need their College Board username and password to start the practice tests. See Collegeboard.org for account information and other SAT practice opportunities.
Are you interested in earning the Community Service Award?
The deadline for the 2024-2025 Community Service Award is approaching. A specific date has not yet been chosen, but it will be sometime in the first half of April. This gives you about two months to complete your 50 hours for the yearly award or the 200 hours for the four-year award for seniors. Keep an eye out for future updates, and keep up the good work!
Spirit Week Food & Goods Drive!
The Library Advisory Team is running a food and goods drive this Friday AND next week during spirit week. All donations will go to and benefit students here at Portage Central. This drive will start this Friday (2/14) at the PC vs Mattawan basketball game. Parents and students, look for a bin near the ticket stand to donate to! Following Friday, next week there will be bins in the welcome center for each grade, and the grade with the most donations will get points towards the spirit week competition!
And speaking of Spirit Week…
Make sure you check out last week’s Mustang Minutes for all the information about Spirit Week next week starting with the Home Basketball game tomorrow night, February 14th, at 7 pm.
News from the counseling office
It's official: semester one transcripts have been posted to all student and family Skyward accounts. Your student’s current transcript, along with all previous report cards and transcripts, can be found under the "Portfolio" tab in Skyward.
Senior parents, if your student needs a copy of their mid-year grades for college, please have them submit a 'send now' request in Parchment ASAP. Not all colleges require a copy of mid-year grades so they can check with the college to see if they are needed for admission.
Got questions on your student’s transcript or Parchment.com? Please reach out to your student’s counselor or our registrar Nicole Gutshall at ngutshall@portageps.org
Thank you to our local businesses who support us in so many ways!
Erbelli’s has awesome pizza (my favorite is their barbecue chicken pizza!) and other wonderful meals – and they are also a huge supporter of our kids here. Their sponsorship signs out at McCamley-Knight Field, at Mustang Field and in the Mustang Commons are all recognition of their donations that have helped us accomplish so much, from Holiday meals for PC families to our golf cart that shuttles members of our community to PC events. .
We will continue to publicly thank these businesses here in Mustang Minutes and elsewhere on campus. And if there is any way she can show your thanks as well, we would appreciate it!
Upcoming events for CHS Bands
HS Pre-Festival Concert -- PC Bands will be holding our annual Pre-Festival Concert on Wednesday, February 19th at 7:00pm in the Auditorium. Featured will be the Winds & Percussion, Concert Band, and Symphonic Band. The concert is free and open to the public. This concert is our opportunity to perform the music for our community as we prepare for the following week's MSBOA Festival performance.
MSBOA District 11 Band & Orchestra Festival -- PC is excited to host this year's festival on Wednesday, February 26 and Thursday, February 27. Performances will happen in the PCHS Auditorium, and Sight Reading will be held in the CHS Band Room. All performances are open to the public and are free. See the schedule here. We would love to see many family members and community members come to support the PC Bands and local area bands and orchestras.
Big Band Bash -- On Friday, March 21, CHS will be hosting the Big Band Bash in the Commons. Tickets are $5 each and are available at the door or thru Ludus at this link. This year's BBB will be featuring Portage Northern HS Jazz Band, Central HS Jazz Band, as well as the WMS/CMS William Short Rock/Jazz Ensemble. Cost of tickets also includes a beverage and dessert. Come and join us for a night of fun and live jazz music!
Tutoring
Now that we are into the second semester, we wanted to remind you that we do have tutoring opportunities and opportunities to be a tutor. The links are below. Please reach out to Teresa Imus, Activities Assistant, at timus@portageps.org if you have any questions.
The last chance to catch “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” is this weekend! Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is here!
The show continues this weekend and closes on Sunday. Tickets are available at https://pchsboxoffice.ludus.com/admin/shows.php Adults - $18 and Students - $16
PC students, want to save some money? There will be a student show on tonight, Thursday, February 13th at 7 p.m. Tickets for this performance are $5 for students and cash only at the door. Thanks for joining us!
Save the dates!
Parent-teacher conferences are coming!
Tuesday and Thursday, March 4 and 6 from 3:30 to 7:15
And they are fully online through Google Meet, just as they were in the fall and last year. Watch for future issues of the Mustang Minutes, and emails from your teachers, to get all the information you need to connect with all the teachers you need. Thanks – and see you there!
Just a reminder from the Board of Education…
Looking for a new superintendent
The Portage Public Schools Board of Education has begun the task of searching for the District’s next Superintendent, as Mr. Mark Bielang recently announced his retirement at the end of this school year.
Staff and community groups play a very important role in the search process. Excellent schools begin with excellent educational leadership that shares the District’s values and commitments in providing a high quality education to every student, and every future. Therefore qualified candidates for Superintendent will be expected to possess and demonstrate many qualifications, skills and abilities, including the ability to help forge strong partnerships with teachers, students, parents and community. We need your participation in this process.
You are invited to provide input via the Superintendent Search Survey. The survey is open now, and will close at midnight on March 2. All input on the survey will be collected anonymously. The Board of Education thanks you in advance for the input.
Just a reminder…
Senior cap-and-gown pictures will be Tuesday, April 22 and Wednesday, April 23
To continue our tradition of taking class pictures since 1922, we will be taking pictures of each of our seniors Tues. 4/22 and Wed. 4/23 up on the third-floor bridge, and these pictures will be used for our class composites that hang down near the Activities Office.
We will have our photographer at the 3rd-floor bridge taking pictures of our students wearing caps and gowns on
● Tuesday, hours 5-7
● Wednesday, hours 1-4
Seniors, you don’t need to bring your own caps and gowns; we will have some waiting for you. Wear a nice shirt; this picture of you will be hanging on our wall for at least the next 100 years. We will be calling seniors down alphabetically. If you have an off-campus class, stop up there when it works for you; we want to make sure that we don’t miss anyone. You might have to stand in line for a few minutes, so thanks in advance for your patience. Any questions? Drop me an email anytime – and thanks!
Still excited after meeting our future Mustang families,
Eric Alburtus
And if you want even more PC news…