With the 2025-2026 school year starting, parents need to meet their children’s new teachers and learn important information from them, such as contact information and what the students will be learning. Back to School Night, held on Wednesday, Aug. 20, was the perfect opportunity for this.
The night started out with a performance from the combined orchestra and choir. Concert Choir and Madrigals started off by singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” by Francis Scott Key. Next, Concert Orchestra and Symphonic Orchestra combined to play “Hopak” by Modest Mussorgsky. This performance gave parents the opportunity to hear our school’s talented orchestra and choir. Choir and Orchestra Teacher Amber Petersen had only positive things to say about her students.
“I was extremely proud of the performance by our combined choirs and orchestras,” said Petersen. “I think this has been our strongest start to the year, and I am looking forward to what we build from here!”
After the music, teachers were given ten-minute blocks to present information to the parents for each period that they teach, with parents moving from class to class to follow their student’s schedule. While each teacher had a different slideshow, the topics they presented were similar. Student expectations, syllabus, and rubrics were all common topics. History Teacher Emily Grogman shared this information with the 2 to 15 parents who showed up for each class.
“I mainly focused on my syllabus, talking about what we’ll cover in class this year, grading procedures, and student expectations,” said Grogman.
Some classes were full, while attendance was lighter in others. English Teacher Chelsea Edulag had a small turnout, but this turned out to be an opportunity.
“I only had one parent show up for 6th period, so we had the opportunity to chat one on one,” said Edulag.
In short, this year’s Back to School Night was a success and we’re all hoping that this year continues to be a great one for both the adults and students!
