In this week's newsletter, (CHIL), we reflect on our amazing Frost Valley adventures. Also, you will find information on our Fall Virtual Parent-Teacher Conferences, including dates, times, and how they will work.
Throughout this upcoming week, we will be hosting our 8th-grade students as a part of our annual SHADOW PROGRAM. This program allows us to share a little of CHS while building some cross-campus community.
We wrap up our week with our 1st Trimester Progress Reports, which mark our mid-way point of the first trimester. To access them, go to the Craig School Webpage, click on COMMUNITY RESOURCES, slide down to PARENT PORTAL, and enter your email address that you use for everything CHS.
COACHes will be reviewing progress reports with their COACHees starting today into next week so that our students can be active participants in understanding their progress in specific classes, gain clarity on areas they need to continue to work on, ask questions for understanding, and most importantly, be a part of the game planning process for the 2nd half of the trimester. If you have any questions about a specific Progress Report, feel free to email that teacher directly.
In November, we will be checking for student interest in starting up our after-school intramural soccer league. We are hoping to hold three weekly sessions on Tuesdays starting in early November. The catch is we need 6-8 players to make it happen. We are also looking to start up our fall-winter esports intramural league after Thanksgiving. Once we have all of our equipment, gamer sessions will be held on Thursdays after school.
And finally, a few reminders to put on your radar. November lunch orders are due this Monday (Oct 27th). Candy sign-ups and delivery for our Halloween Bash are due by Friday morning (Oct 31st), and student Great Pumpkin entries should be in by Thursday (Oct 30th). We will give our early pumpkin entries a spritz of bleach and water to keep them fresh until voting time!
Dr. Cap
THIS WEEK
Sunday, October 26th-CHS XC-Strides for Education 5K (Morris Plains, 9AM)
Monday, October 27th-CHS Lunch Delivery NOVEMBER ORDERING Window CLOSES (www.myfooddays.com)
Tuesday, October 28th-Cross Country Practice (3-4:30 PM)
Wednesday, October 29th-Afterschool Art Studio (3-4:15PM)
Thursday, October 30th-Annual CHS “Great Pumpkin” Entries Due
Cross Country Practice (3-4:30 PM)
Friday, October 31st-12PM Close-Annual CHS Halloween Bash: “Great Pumpkin” Winners Announced and Halloween Costume Contest
NOVEMBER IMPORTANT DATES
Wednesday, November 5th - GOGI Spain Trip ZOOM (Time and Link TBA)
Thursday-Friday, November 6th-7th-SCHOOL CLOSED: Parent-Teacher Virtual Conferences
Tuesday- November 11th- 7pm- Community Virtual Q&A
Friday, November 21st-12 PM CLOSE: Faculty Forum
Monday-Friday, November 24th to 28th-SCHOOL CLOSED: Thanksgiving Break
CHS Frost Valley Adventures 2025: Frost Valley 2025 is on the books, and what a great device-free adventure we had. We began day one with the GIANT SWING, a cable swing where students had control of how high their drop would be. Most went for the max height, which had to be 40 ft. Next, we had a hike around the camp trying to read a map and find the Kellogg Lodge (pictured below), which we eventually did.
Once we had our home base, the rest was smooth sailing. We hiked plenty (20K Steps a Day), spent time on the FV Rapture Reserve learning about owls, hawks, and vultures, completed a community service project as a school (evasive plant species removal), did some apple cidering, and then ziplined right into our bus on day three. Cereal was abundant, sleep was adequate, and student camaraderie and inclusion were at the highest levels! What a blast, and we have the pictures to prove it (https://link.shutterfly.com/s5ru7X4QHXb)
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Big thanks to Frost Valley for hosting us, Mr. Furlong for pulling this all together, our FV counselors Axol and KB for their guidance and patience, EV and Danny for sharing their photography skills, and Ms. Crum and Mrs. Steinel for extending their school days just a bit to join our adventures!
Craig High Annual “Great Pumpkin” 2025: Entries can be brought into school starting this Monday, October 27th, so this weekend is the perfect carving time! We will keep all pumpkins refrigerated and hydrated! Each Pumpkin needs a very cool name, so our students can brainstorm with you while carving. Our week will culminate this Friday, October 31st, when we will hold our CHS Community vote to crown “The Great Pumpkins” for 2025. This is the year Dr. Cap takes the crown!
In our pumpkin gallery below, you will find pictures of a few pumpkins that have made the Great Pumpkin Hall of Fame, representing the Great Pumpkin Class of 2021.
Great Pumpkin Hall of Fame Class of 2021
The Craig School App
The Craig School App is now Available for Download on all your Mobile Devices. Follow the instructions below to stay connected and access important information
THE CRAIG SCHOOL COMMUNITY VIRTUAL Q&A
Mark your calendars for Tuesday, November 11th at 7PM for a Community Virtual Q&A.
We will be hosting a casual meeting to discuss exciting upcoming planned events and programs along with a Q&A with you- our community, to address your questions. Link coming soon! We hope everyone will join us.
Susan Schmitt- Head of School
Dr. Eric Caparulo- Director of The High School
Jennifer Guthrie- Director of The Lower/Middle School
Nile Furlong- Director of Student Engagement
GOGI PROGRAM
SAVE THE DATE-WEDS Nov 5th 6 PM, Gogi Abroad Travel Opportunity for grades 7 to 12-Spain and Ecuador: Join us for an exciting Virtual Meeting on WED NOV 5th at 6 PM (Gogi Google Meet Link) to learn more about our upcoming Spring Trip to Spain and Summer Adventure to the Galápagos Islands with Mr. Furlong and GOGI Abroad!
Meet our amazing GOGI Abroad guides from Spain and the Galápagos
Discover what makes these journeys so unique and life-changing
Ask questions, connect with other interested families, and get inspired!
Don’t miss this chance to learn how students will explore new cultures, dive into hands-on learning, and make memories that last a lifetime.
We can’t wait to see you there! But if you can't wait, feel free to email us at info@gogiabroad.com to set up a 1:1 call. We'd love to speak with you.
CHS “Halloween Bash” Candy Sign Up: There is still time to check the list to see if there is any outstanding CANDY needed for our annual Halloween Bash next week. And to make things a little easier, we’ve added an Amazon Order wish list to the signup link (CHS Halloween Bash Candy SIGN UP).
CHS Halloween Bash 2024!
Simply click “Purchase,” and the candy will be shipped directly to the school (attn: Dr. Cap)! Feel free to purchase candy elsewhere if it's easier. All Hallway Candy needs to be in by the morning of the Bash (Friday, October 31). On behalf of our students, their dentists, and our teachers, we thank you for your support!
Ordering School Pictures from Josten PIX: You will be receiving an email link from JOSTENS PIX to set up an account, which will allow you to view your teen's pictures taken on Thursday and the various ordering options available. Any orders will be conveniently done online, and pictures will be mailed directly to you. The website is www.jostenpic.com/shop, and our CHS EVENT CODE is FE243825
We do have a picture retake day scheduled for later this month (Nov 20th) for any absent students, students who wore a wrinkled hoodie, or who would just like a do-over. If you would like a retake, reach out to Ms. Steinel (HSteinel@craigschool.org) and she will add your teen to the retake roster.
CHS Group Pic 2025
SCHEDULING YOUR CHS Fall Virtual Parent-Teacher Conferences THURS Nov 6th/FRI Nov 7th: Thursday, November 6th, and Friday, Nov 7th, will be our Fall Virtual Parent-Teacher Conference dates. You will have a choice of a one-hour block in either the morning or the afternoon. Days and Hour-Blocks to choose from are:
THURSDAY, November 6th
8AM-9AM
9AM-10AM
10AM-11AM
11AM-12PM
1PM-2PM
2PM-3PM
FRIDAY, November 7th
8AM-9AM
9AM-10AM
10AM-11AM
11AM-12PM
To schedule your virtual Parent-Teacher conference, you can email Mrs. Mershimer at DMershimer@craigschool.org or call CHS at (973)334-1234 and share your day and time. We will do our best to accommodate your schedule. Once you choose your day and time, you can expect to receive the necessary Zoom links and the schedule that you will follow during your conference block by Wednesday, November 5th.
For those whose teens have one-on-one reading, please let Mrs. Mershimer know if you would like to touch base with Mrs. Blount or Ms. Gallagher (depending on who your teen has for one-on-one reading). For those that would like to touch base with our speech pathologist, Mrs. Henry, she will be available on THU, Nov 6th from 8AM-12PM, and FRI, Nov 7th from 8AM-10AM, so let Mrs. Mershimer know that as well.
Badgers Run in Winston Prep Invitational Cross Country Race: Six Badgers made the trek down 287 to Whippany to run in the Winston Prep Invitational last week. The race was held on the campus of Winston Prep High School. The Badgers were led by Junior, Daniel, who placed 4th overall. Freshman, Elijah, Sophomore, Asher, and Juniors, Mike, Alex, and Christian all ran solid races in the 2-mile invitational. Congats to Coach Crum and the Badger XC for representing!
Badgers XC Runs in the Hammond Hustle 5K: Runners from the CHS Cross Country Team climbed out of bed one day after returning from Frost Valley and joined 100 fellow runners last Saturday in the 6th annual Hammond Homebound Hustle 5K held in Central Park of Morris County (formerly known as Greystone), located in Parsippany-Troy Hills. The Badgers had the opportunity to run an official cross-country trial course used by NJ high schools across the state, dodging branches and jumping over tree roots. Real XC stuff!
CHS Sophomore, Asher, took 2nd place in the 15-19 year old group. Sophomore Alex dropped a full minute off of his best 5K time, and Junior Christian completed his first 5K ever! And we wrapped up our run with a 360 degree CHS ChackTok Vid!
Badger Afterschool Intramural Soccer and Esports Interest Check: This week, we will be polling students to check for interest in reestablishing our afterschool Indoor Intramural soccer league and starting up our Esports Intramural League.
Our leagues are CO-ED, open to all CHS students, and a great opportunity to be a part of a dynamic and supportive team. We are looking to hold our afterschool soccer sessions on the following TUES in November from 3-4:30 PM if we get enough interest:
We will keep you posted if we get the numbers we need to make it happen. We are waiting on some final equipment for our Essports Intramural League and are hoping to get that off of the ground before we break for Thanksgiving. For planning purposes, we are looking at THURS afterschools as our Esports Days. Keep you posted on that as well.
SAVE THE DATE:
Badger Bowling Fundraising Event,
Saturday, January 24, 2026, 12:00–2:00 PM | Boonton Lanes, Boonton, NJ-
Shake off the winter chill and join us for an afternoon of fun, food, and fundraising to support The Craig School! Mark your calendars, more information to follow!
Ordering CHS Lunch Delivery-November Lunches CLOSES THIS MONDAY, Oct. 27th: Our lunch ordering window closes at midnight MONDAY, OCTOBER 27th. To register or to re-order, go to www.myfooddays.com. If you have any questions, reach out to our CHS Lunch Program Chair, Amanda Jahn, at ajahn@craigschool.org
For more information on ways of giving or to make a donation online you can clicking here.
