IMPORTANT DATES
IN THE NEWS
RCHS OCEAN SCIENCE BOWL WINS STATES, HEADS TO NATIONALS
MOCK TRIAL STUDENTS MAKE THEIR CASE
RCHS STUDENTS ATTEND MODEL UN CONFERENCE
THE COMING WEEK
SHAKESPEARE ON POLK STREET
REPORT CARDS COMING HOME SOON
COLLEGE WORKSHOP FOR SOPHOMORES
COMING SOON
LAST CHANCE FOR COFFEE WITH PRINCIPAL
CAN YOU HELP?
PASTA POT: 58% AND COUNTING
THE SPORTS PAGE
SPRING CREW INFO FOR PARENTS
ATHLETIC CALENDAR
LINKS OF INTEREST
PUBLICATION INFORMATION

IMPORTANT DATES
FEBRUARY
28 Crew info meeting for parents, 9 a.m., Lake Wheeler
MARCH
2 Report cards go home
3 College workshop for sophomores, 3:15 and 5:15 p.m., Music House
4-8 RCHS production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Meymandi Theatre, 224 Polk Street
9 RCHS Board of Directors meeting, 5:30 p.m., Room 300
10 Writing Test for all sophomores
12 PASTA Board of Directors meeting, 8:30 a.m., Room 305
16 Teacher Workday
19-20 Ex Days
25 Last Principal's Coffee of the year, 8:45 a.m.

IN THE NEWS

RCHS OCEAN SCIENCE BOWL WINS STATES, HEADS TO NATIONALS
The RCHS Ocean Science Bowl team won the Blue Heron Bowl, North Carolina's competition for the National Ocean Science Bowl, held at UNC-Wilmington on Saturday, Feb. 21. Our team went 8-0 through the round robin and double elimination rounds, winning the final match against East Carteret High School, the defending champions who finished eighth in the nation last year. The Blue Heron Bowl covers topics ranging from biology to public policy to physics as it applies to the ocean. There is a combination of buzzer questions and team challenge problem-solving questions within each match. The team members are Captain B. Schuster, G. Sanka, C. Diepenbrock, S. Marivada and A. Yoo. Whit Hames is the coach. See: http://www.uncw.edu/cmsr/nosb.html

Each team member and the coach received a laptop as a first place prize. The team will compete at the National Ocean Science Bowl competition in Washington, DC on April 25-27 against the top teams from around the country. See: http://www.oceanleadership.org/files/2009%20Regional%20Winners.Updated.3.9.09.pdf   Last weekend, East Carteret (Morehead City) finished second, while Burlington's Walter Williams, Wilmington Hoggard, and the North Carolina School of Science and Math filled out the top 5. The team has practiced Friday mornings before school for two years in addition to lots of outside work. Congratulations!
Tom Humble, Principal
thumble@raleighcharterhs.org

MOCK TRIAL STUDENTS MAKE THEIR CASE
The Wade Edwards Mock Trial Program is sponsored by the NC Advocates for Justice. This program produces a case that was released in the fall, and students had four months to prepare both sides. Each team had seven or eight students, no more and no less. Each side (plaintiff/prosecution and defense) had three witnesses and three attorneys, so some students played more than one role. Each attorney carried out one direct examination and one cross examination; two of the three gave a statement (an opening or a closing). Each team had to present either side of the case. The sites were real courthouses with real judges presiding and with lawyers and paralegals as jurors.

There were nine regional competitions across the state; RCHS sent three teams to three of these sites. On Feb. 21, all nine regions held the competition. Each team participated in two preliminary rounds, and each team was required to present both sides of the case once. The top two teams will compete in a championship round in each region. Sixteen teams were invited to the state competition - all nine regional winners and seven runners up. Two of our teams, the Silver and the Lapis Teams, have been invited to the state competition.

This year was our second year in Mock Trial competitions.
We had three volunteer attorneys helping us: Andrew LeLiever (in his second year of working with our students), Judy Tseng and Shannon Poore.

Silver Team - First Place in Raleigh site (invited to the state competition)
M. Crenshaw, A. Day, K. Fanning, M. Felder, R. Iyer, A. Karsten, O. Marschall, P. Schultz
Best witness awards went to A. Day (prelim and final rounds) and P. Schultz.
Best attorney awards went to R. Iyer (prelim and final rounds) and K. Fanning.

Lapis Team - Second Place in Durham site (invited to the state competition)
D. Lord, M. Lukacs, Z. Martignoni, J. Neuenschwander, K. Schreiber, A. Springfield, J. Tobia, K. Weinel.
Best attorney awards went to A. Springfield (prelim and final rounds) and J. Neuenschwander.

Green Team - Second Place in Greenville site
S. Aikens, E. Andino, J. DeLoatch, A. Doyle, W. Parks, K. Telfer, J. Veal, S. Zevgolis
Best attorney awards went to E. Andino and J. Veal.

What great students we are blessed with! Congratulations to our teams.
Amy Marschall, English Teacher
amarschall@raleighcharterhs.org

RCHS STUDENTS ATTEND MODEL UN CONFERENCE
On Feb. 19-23, our Model UN Club participated in the annual Duke University Model UN Conference.

Twenty-six RCHS students joined 22 other high-school teams from all over the country for four days of research, debate, resolutions and fun! Many of our group were freshmen, learning debate and resolution procedures for the first time. All of our students represented our school well with their courteous and respectful behavior.

Two students received the highest award given for committee work on the World Health Organization: S. Chapin and M. Sridhar represented Spain and were given Outstanding Delegate Awards for their work on water sanitation, global food security, and access to medication.
John Kleinhenz, History Teacher
jkleinhenz@raleighcharterhs.org

THE COMING WEEK

SHAKESPEARE ON POLK STREET
The RCHS Drama Program will present William Shakespeare's classic comedy, "A Midsummer Night's Dream," March 4–8 at Burning Coal Theatre Company's new home in the Meymandi Theatre, located at 224 Polk Street, between Blount and Person streets one block south of the Krispy Kreme shop.

Show times:
March 4 at 6:30 p.m.
March 5, 6 and 7 at 7 p.m.
March 7 and 8 at 3 p.m.

Ticket prices are $12 for adults, $8 for students. Tickets can be purchased online by going to the RCHS Web site. For more information contact me at the email address below.
Maggie Rasnick, RCHS Drama Director
mrasnick@raleighcharterhs.org 

REPORT CARDS COMING HOME SOON
Report cards will go home with students on Monday, March 2. These new report card grades are a snapshot of the student's progress up to this point in the second semester. They do not include work done in the first semester.

Please sign your student's report card and have them show their signed report card to their advisor.
Shayne Klein, Academic Dean and History Teacher
sklein@raleighcharterhs.org 

COLLEGE WORKSHOP FOR SOPHOMORES
College counseling is offering a Planning for College workshop for sophomores, conducted by Randy Doss, the Vice President for Enrollment Services at Guilford College. We will offer two sessions on March 3 in the Music House. The first session will be at 3:15 p.m. and the second will be at 5:15 p.m. This workshop is designed to give students and parents a perspective of how admission applications are read and evaluated.

Students should register for one of the sessions in college counseling.
Glenda Atkinson, Director of College Counseling
gatkinson@raleighcharterhs.org 

COMING SOON

LAST CHANCE FOR COFFEE WITH PRINCIPAL
Our last Principal's Coffee of the school year is coming up on the Wednesday, March 25. Please plan to join us in the Drama Room at 8:45 a.m. If you would like to bring a fruit plate, juice or a "coffee-time treat" please contact me at the email address below. Looking forward to seeing you there!
Ruth Challener, Principal's Coffee Coordinator
dchallener@nc.rr.com 

CAN YOU HELP?

PASTA POT: 58% AND COUNTING
RCHS is a great place to be. We have generous families who have graciously donated to PASTA Pot. Many have given more than once. Thank you for supporting PASTA and responding to our additional needs when RCHS's state funding was reduced by $20,645. To date, 58% of our families have jumped in to help with these financial needs and the remaining 42% of our families are encouraged to do what they can to help. Every student at RCHS benefits from the money contributed to the PASTA Pot, so we hope every family will contribute – no amount is too small. It is not too late to make a donation.

If you are interested in contributing but just haven't "gotten around to it" yet, please consider making your tax-deductible contribution today by writing a check to RCHS PASTA Pot and sending it to RCHS PASTA, 1111 Haynes Street, Raleigh, NC 27604. (You don't need to find and send in the donation card!)

Thank you to all families at RCHS who give generously of your time, skills, and/or financial resources.
Nancy Thompson, PASTA Vice-President – Fundraising
pullet@msn.com
Lynne Chambers, PASTA Vice President – Fundraising
lynnechambers@nc.rr.com

THE SPORTS PAGE

SPRING CREW INFO FOR PARENTS
If your child plans to row with RCHS this spring, please come to the informational meeting for parents which will take place on the deck at Lake Wheeler on Saturday, Feb. 28, at 9:00 a.m. Please bring your checkbook, as dues for spring season will be collected.
Melinda Thompson, RCHS Crew Boosters
thompsonsusa@hotmail.com 

ATHLETIC CALENDAR
TUESDAY, 3/3
4:30 p.m. - Women's Soccer at Ravenscroft
WEDNESDAY, 3/4
4:30 p.m. - Home, Women's Soccer vs. Cedar Ridge, WakeMed #2
4:30 p.m. - Men's Tennis at Northwood

For directions to events, see https://www.raleighcharterhs.org/athletics/Sports_Directions.pdf

LINKS OF INTEREST
The following are quick links:
The Phoenix News at http://www.raleighcharterhs.org/pasta/news.asp
PASTA Fund-Raising at http://www.raleighcharterhs.org/pasta/simplefund.asp 
Join PASTA at http://www.raleighcharterhs.org/pasta/membership.asp
PASTA Alumni at http://www.rchspasta.org/alumni/alumni.php 
Lunch Vendors at https://www.raleighcharterhs.org/studentlife/lunch.asp 
RCHS College Counseling Naviance at http://connection.naviance.com/fc/signin.php?hsid=raleighcharter 
Calendar at http://www.raleighcharterhs.org/pasta 
Helpful Hints at https://www.raleighcharterhs.org/Pasta/hints.asp 
The Flame at http://flame.raleighcharterhs.org 
Helpful hints at http://www.raleighcharterhs.org/pasta/hints.htm 
Extracurricular opportunities at http://rchspasta.org/extracurriculars.htm

PUBLICATION INFORMATION
The Raleigh Charter High School newsletter, the Phoenix News, is published each Friday of the school year as a service of Raleigh Charter High School's Parent, Administrator, Student, and Teacher Association (PASTA) and is distributed via an electronic news group. The Phoenix News is also available on the RCHS website at https://www.raleighcharterhs.org/pasta/news.asp 

Parents, students and faculty are invited to share school-related news, recognize accomplishments and solicit volunteer needs via the Phoenix News.

**The deadline for submitting articles is every Tuesday at noon for publication the following Friday. Please send articles to phoenixnewseditor@yahoo.com 

If you would like to receive the Phoenix News automatically each week, please subscribe to the RCHS Yahoo! news group by sending an email to RaleighCharterHS-subscribe@yahoogroups.com 

Please indicate your student's name in the subject line so the moderator can verify that you are a member of the RCHS community.
Membership is monitored and available only to RCHS parents, students and personnel.

To unsubscribe from this group, send a blank email to RaleighCharterHS-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com