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The Class of 2015
Final exams are all completed except those students who may have to complete a make-up exam on Monday. Next week is such an important week for our graduating seniors. Please plan to join us next week for our Senior Night ceremony on Tuesday the 3rd of June starting at 6:30. this event is held in the HIgh School Auditorium. Senior Night is a mandatory event for our students.
On Thursday we hold our Baccalaureate Service at St. Denis Church starting at 7:00pm. This is a nice nondenominational ceremony and features our award winning chorus performing three musical selections. Again, we hope you'll join us for this ceremony. It is not a mandatory event for our seniors.
Friday June 5th we will be conducting the 137th Commencement Ceremony. Weather permitting it will be held out on the athletic field with a 5:30 pm start time. To accommodate the crowd, we will run shuttle busses from the parking lots at the Middle, Elementary and Primary school parking lots. It is best to plan for the need to use this shuttle service as the High School lot will be filled in short order. We have used this shuttle service for a number of years and it has worked out well. We ask our senior students to park down at these other schools to maximize the number of parking spots that are available here at DHS.
We also run three golf carts from our parking lots to assist spectators in getting down to the field space. This service also runs after the graduation is completed.
Our junior class will be selling water and flowers at the graduation event also.
Now, should we have threatening weather we will be forced to hold the graduation ceremony in our gym. We have done this in the past and has been a nice ceremony but unfortunately we have limited seating within the gym. We will provide each senior with 7 tickets for attending the event if we are in the gym. That will get us to capacity and we will not be able to honor any requests for additional tickets beyond these 7 tickets. If we are in the gym for graduation, the doors to the gym will be locked until 4:30 when we will begin admitting ticket holding guest for the 5:30 start.
Seniors have been provided order forms for pictures through our vendor, Morin's Studio of Milford. We ask that these forms be returned prior to Friday so it will not be a concern for parents, students and the school on the day of the ceremony. Please consider this opportunity as they do a nice job and they are valuable keepsakes of this important day in your child's education.
Lastly, during the week our seniors will be attending mandatory rehearsals Monday through Thursday. The time schedule is posted below. They will also enjoy the annual Senior Cookout on Wednesday from 12:30 -2:00 pm in the school's courtyard.
Every year it happens; Senior Week arrives in what seems like the blink of an eye. This is a great senior class and we look forward to honoring and recognizing them during this week. Please join us as we celebrate the Class of 2015!
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SENIOR WEEK SCHEDULE
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MCAS Science Testing:
Students will be taking the Science MCAS competency exams on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Wednesday is reserved for make-up exams. Students will be provided with a light breakfast before heading to their testing sites for a 7:30 am start. This is the final round of state competency testing for the 2014-2015 school year.
I'd like to thank Mrs. Jill Carpenter and Mr. Desi Vega for all their work in planning and overseeing these exams. Jill deserves a great deal of credit for her attention to these exams and all the requirements and accommodations that come along with this process.
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Spring Band Concert
The DHS Band, Auxiliary and Chorus program's will be presenting an Alumni Concert tomorrow night outdoors on the athletic field starting at 6:30. Mr. DeNoncour and Mr. Elliot have spent a great deal of time and energy putting together this monumental event. They have a large number of alumni who have committed to participate and it is shaping up to be a great night of entertainment. We hope you'll consider coming out to the show. Our present band, chorus and auxiliary groups will also be featured tomorrow night in their final performance of the school year. This is a fundraising event that will not charge an admission, but will graciously accept any donations that they receive. The proceeds will go to support next years programs which will require fundraising to cover their entire operational costs of the programs.
Hope to see you there.
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Sports update:
Members of the track teams will be traveling to Westfield State University for the District Championships. We extend best wishes to these students in this major sports event. They have enjoyed a wonderful spring season and strong performances at this championship meet will be a nice culminating piece to their season.
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Retirement:
The Booster's were kind enough to present "allegedly" (I haven't given up trying to get him to reconsider) retiring Athletic Director Bobby Doyon with a plaque and a banner honoring not only his years as athletic director at DHS but also recognizing his two decades of dedication and service to the town's sports programs. He has also been an active member of the Booster's organization for two decades as well. Quite simply he has played an important leadership role in Douglas athletics for better than two decades; dedicating himself to the quality of the experience for countless hundreds of young athletes. He has been a tireless champion of the town's young people by providing of his time, skills, energy and commitment to the programs that the town and DHS have to offer it's young people. We cannot thank him enough for what he has meant to the town of Douglas.
As an Athletic Director, he was meticulous in his attention to details, ensuring our student-athletes with the best experience at all levels of participation within our programs. Without question Bobby is one of the top AD's in Central Massachusetts. Other AD's seek his counsel and advice all the time, because they know how well he has managed the sports programs at DHS.
Without question my position has just become more involved as a result of his retirement. I have felt that for the past six years, that Bobby and I have been a good team and I relied heavily on his skill set and his relentless attention to all the small things that come with the AD position. Over 32 years as a coach and administrator, I have worked with and interacted with a great number of AD's and Bobby is simply as good as I've ever worked with.
The Town of Douglas and DHS have benefitted from his commitment to the kids of the town and to the student-athletes of DHS.
Thank you Bobby!
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***********************************
SENIOR WEEK SCHEDULE
MCAS Science Testing:
Students will be taking the Science MCAS competency exams on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Wednesday is reserved for make-up exams. Students will be provided with a light breakfast before heading to their testing sites for a 7:30 am start. This is the final round of state competency testing for the 2014-2015 school year.
I'd like to thank Mrs. Jill Carpenter and Mr. Desi Vega for all their work in planning and overseeing these exams. Jill deserves a great deal of credit for her attention to these exams and all the requirements and accommodations that come along with this process.
***********************************
Spring Band Concert
The DHS Band, Auxiliary and Chorus program's will be presenting an Alumni Concert tomorrow night outdoors on the athletic field starting at 6:30. Mr. DeNoncour and Mr. Elliot have spent a great deal of time and energy putting together this monumental event. They have a large number of alumni who have committed to participate and it is shaping up to be a great night of entertainment. We hope you'll consider coming out to the show. Our present band, chorus and auxiliary groups will also be featured tomorrow night in their final performance of the school year. This is a fundraising event that will not charge an admission, but will graciously accept any donations that they receive. The proceeds will go to support next years programs which will require fundraising to cover their entire operational costs of the programs.
Hope to see you there.
***********************************
Sports update:
Members of the track teams will be traveling to Westfield State University for the District Championships. We extend best wishes to these students in this major sports event. They have enjoyed a wonderful spring season and strong performances at this championship meet will be a nice culminating piece to their season.
The baseball team will await their seeding for the MIAA Tournament round. the seeding meeting is Monday. The team finished its season with a tough loss to neighboring Uxbridge HS in extra innings. They also have enjoyed a good season and hope to advance in the District Tournament. We hope that their record may afford them a home game in the first round of the tournament. We anticipate that they will begin play on Wednesday of next week.
The Spring Season Awards Night was held on Wednesday night. Our spring sport athletes were recognized for their season. We also provided our senior student-athletes with plaques, pins and letters for their years of participation. We thank the booster's organization for their continued support in recognizing these students.
***********************************
Retirement:
The Booster's were kind enough to present "allegedly" (I haven't given up trying to get him to reconsider) retiring Athletic Director Bobby Doyon with a plaque and a banner honoring not only his years as athletic director at DHS but also recognizing his two decades of dedication and service to the town's sports programs. He has also been an active member of the Booster's organization for two decades as well. Quite simply he has played an important leadership role in Douglas athletics for better than two decades; dedicating himself to the quality of the experience for countless hundreds of young athletes. He has been a tireless champion of the town's young people by providing of his time, skills, energy and commitment to the programs that the town and DHS have to offer it's young people. We cannot thank him enough for what he has meant to the town of Douglas.
As an Athletic Director, he was meticulous in his attention to details, ensuring our student-athletes with the best experience at all levels of participation within our programs. Without question Bobby is one of the top AD's in Central Massachusetts. Other AD's seek his counsel and advice all the time, because they know how well he has managed the sports programs at DHS.
Without question my position has just become more involved as a result of his retirement. I have felt that for the past six years, that Bobby and I have been a good team and I relied heavily on his skill set and his relentless attention to all the small things that come with the AD position. Over 32 years as a coach and administrator, I have worked with and interacted with a great number of AD's and Bobby is simply as good as I've ever worked with.
The Town of Douglas and DHS have benefitted from his commitment to the kids of the town and to the student-athletes of DHS.
Thank you Bobby!
