Blue Ridge CUSD #18

Here’s the latest Superintendent Monthly Update! Inside, you’ll find important highlights and updates from across the district and all three of our schools - https://shorturl.at/SS1GL

Good Morning, Blue Ridge Families-School is in session today, but buses may be running delayed this morning as our drivers are taking extra care to ensure all students arrive safely. If your child is a bus rider, please expect later pickup times than usual. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we prioritize student safety.

BR Parents and Guardians,

Due to slippery road conditions, Blue Ridge will utilize an E-Learning Day on Tuesday, December 2. This means that Pre-K students have choice board activities, K-5th grade students will use Day 1 materials in their E-Learning packets that were previously sent home, grade 6 will watch Google classroom for their synchronous meets sessions and assignments, and grades 7-12 will utilize Google classroom for synchronous learning on a 2:20 schedule. More details about Google classroom connections can be found at blueridge18.org. Click on Menu, scroll down to Resources, and click on Links for Parents. There you will find the needed links for our upper grades. Please feel free to email your student's teacher today with any questions. Coaches and sponsors will be in contact about after school activities. #br_u_knighted

At BRIJHS, 4th grade continued the tradition of making turkey calls to celebrate Thanksgiving! This will go along with their upcoming sound unit within the Science curriculum. Many of them were excited to make a turkey call since their siblings had come home with them the last couple of years.

#br_u_knighted

Congratulations to the BRHS Varsity Scholastic Bowl Team for going 6-1 on Saturday at the 12th Annual Mike Hendricks Memorial Scholastic Bowl Tournament. As a team, they placed 2nd overall in a highly competitive field of 8 teams.
Also, a big congratulations goes out to Indra Nolan for being the 2nd Top Scorer of the day. Way to go Knights!

The BRIJHS Theatre Department is excited to announce their annual Christmas production: The Blue Ridge Family Christmas Special!

Join us on December 13 at 6:30pm for a fun evening filled with laughter and holiday cheer!

A series of short Holiday inspired scenes, the Blue Ridge Family Christmas Special is sure to have you feeling the Christmas spirit! See special performances by the BRHS Marching Band, the BRIJHS Choir, and even several surprise guests from the community! And, of course, there will be an appearance from the Big Guy himself: Santa Claus!!!

You can purchase hot chocolate and cookies from Mrs. Claus's kitchen, and even get your photo taken with Mrs. Claus or one of Santa's elves in front of their picture window at the North Pole! Or, if you'd prefer a photo without Mrs. Claus, she's happy to let you use her picture window for your holiday family portrait! (Donations for the photo op are appreciated!)

Tickets for the show are $3 per student, $5 per adult, and kids 5 and under are free.

Come start your holidays with the BRIJHS Theatre Department!

#br_u_knighted

Girls Basketball kicked off our winter sport Friday Morning High Fives today to greet students at Schneider Elementary on this foggy Friday Morning. Go Knights!

Does your local business want to support our students? Are you looking to fund a good cause during this holiday season? Please take a look at the BRHS Band letter linked below as they seek help with funding seven students wanting to attend the Disney trip during Spring Break as a Marching Knight.
https://shorturl.at/KPxaO

Check out this darling "Christmas movie themed" tree designed by our BRHS Life Skills class! This benefits The Baby Fold organization and can be seen at the Interstate Center's "Festival of Trees" event. Great job, Knights! #br_u_knighted

Celebrating excellence! Twenty-six High Honor Roll students from the junior high spent the day at the Illini Women’s Basketball game and had an amazing time! 🧡💙🩶

Congratulations to three BRHS Students who were nominated for the Bloomington Career Academy Students of the Quarter. Benjamin Clevenger was nominated for his work in the EMT-Basic course, Romero Fernandez was nominated for his work with the Culinary Arts course., and Elias Nolan was nominated for his work in the Robotics and Engineering course. Great work Knights!

BRIJHS Families and Friends

You're Invited to Our Annual School Thanksgiving Feast!
Please join us as we gather together to celebrate the season with good food, great company, and grateful hearts.
We are so thankful for our wonderful school community and would love to have you and your family as our guests.

Shoutout to our BRHS Esports team for their hard work all season long, earning their spot in the Brawlhalla Playoffs last Friday! 🎮✨
Team members: Ben Manuel, Elias Nolan, Jasper Schlieper, and Andy Schumacher — we’re proud of you!

A special congratulations to Andy Schumacher, who advances to the semifinals today after school. Good luck, Andy 💙⚔️

8th Grade student, Braxden Soliday, had a vision to create a game club for BRIJHS. He shared this vision with ELA teacher, Ms. Jamison, and they partnered to bring this vision to life. Thanks to a BREF Grant, the supplies for the game club arrived! BRHS teacher, Mr. Tongate, and his shop class came to the rescue and built a storage cabinet for all the games. Braxden is working on the final logistics with the staff and the game club will begin soon. Thank you to all who had a part in this vision with Braxden!

#br_u_knighted

Good Luck to the BRHS Choir Students attending the LPC Honors Chorus Festival today at Villa Grove. They will be performing in an all-conference choir concert tonight at 6:30 PM.

Families are invited to our BR Connect event in Mansfield on Wednesday, November 19, starting at 5:30 p.m. Come enjoy our K–12 Art Show, showcasing student creativity, and take part in parent learning sessions about our ELA curriculum (CKLA Amplify) and Title I program. We look forward to seeing you for an evening of learning and celebration!

Attendance is one of the largest predictors for student academic success. It allows students to get the necessary direct instruction as well as ask clarifying questions to ensure they understand the material. Blue Ridge High School is happy to say that at this point in the semester 49% of the students enrolled at BRHS have achieved over 95% attendance. Another 21% of the students enrolled at BRHS have achieved over 90% attendance.
We especially want to recognize 15 students that have achieved perfect attendance at this point in the semester. The students with perfect attendance include Ellie Clark, RJ Coffey, Sebastian Cox, Carmen Ellis, Brenden Farris, Broghen Flannell, Drake Hardesty, Presley Hardesty, Izzy Jenkins, Ashlyn Mullen, Jillian Newberry, Elias Nolan, Billie Peterson, James Sullivan, and Devin Wrestler.
Great job Knights!

"FEAST" Your Eyes on the Art Cafe Gallery at 5:30p on Nov 19th. Student artwork from K-12 will be displayed! #br_u_knighted